Code Geass: Kallen of the Recurrence
by phantomace13
Summary: Two years after the Zero Requiem, Kallen is given a chance to change everything. Traveling back in time, she vows to use her Geass to liberate Japan and save Lelouch. Inspired by dw77's Red Recurrence.
1. Chapter 1

**O.K., after the failure that was my **_**To Continue the SAZ**_** I didn't think I'd do another Code Geass fic but after reading **_**DW77's Chess Board**_** I was struck by inspiration and have decided to do the **_**Red Recurrence**_** story, with their permission of course. **

**For those who don't know, **_**Red Recurrence**_** is a story idea in which Kallen goes back in time to Shinjuku with her memories of the future. She then works to change the future so that the Zero Requiem doesn't happen. **

**Obviously the pairings would be Kallen/Lelouch and maybe some others from canon but that might change, with the exception of K/L; that will not change. Also, as I hate to take up another's idea completely, even if I had come up with something just like this, I decided to make the story just a little different to give it some originality. If any of you don't like it, just as dw77 to write their story or, better yet, do it yourself. Enjoy. **

Code Geass: Kallen of the Recurrence

Kallen Kōzuki sighed and then took a deep breath before entering the room. She always hated this time of year; it just reminded her of all of her losses and made the hole in her heart hurt all the more. However, not showing up just made it hurt more and at least here they were able to honor his memory.

The small group looks up when she enters, but only one of the room's occupants smiles when she sees Kallen.

"Kallen!" exclaimed the young empress Nunnally vi Britannia, "we were beginning to think you weren't coming."

"I'm sorry your majesty, but I get held up."

"It's alright Kallen, and please, just call me Nunnally, we're friends."

"O.K., Nunnally." Kallen smiled down at the 100th Empress of the Holy Britannian Empire. After the death of her brother, the 99th Emperor Lelouch vi Britannia two years ago, Nunnally took over the throne, becoming one of the most well-loved leaders of Britannia and the voice of peace around the world.

Kallen looked around their small group, saying hello to everyone in turn before noticing someone was missing.

"Where's Zero?"

Kyoshiro Tohdoh stepped forward from next to his wife, Nagisa Chiba. "Suzaku won't be joining us this year; the negotiations in France are having a little trouble."

Kallen stiffened for a second when Tohdoh gave away Zero's true identity, but relaxed after remembering that everyone present knew about it, and what really happened two years ago. Every year, on this day, while the whole world was celebrating the anniversary of the death of the Demon Emperor, the group of twelve gathered, not to curse him, but to honor the man who made the ultimate sacrifice for the world.

These thirteen, eleven right now with the death of Li Xingke and Suzaku away, knew that Lelouch vi Britannia had gathered the entire world's hatred on him, only to have Suzaku kill him to bring about peace, the Zero Requiem. There were a few others who knew the secret, but only these ten gathered to honor his memory.

Chiba had finally found some bravery and proposed to Tohdoh almost right after the Zero Requiem, refusing to take no for an answer. Prime Minister of Japan Ohgi and his wife Villeta had done the same, only with less argument. Their son Naoto was asleep in a corner of the room. Zhou Xianglin stood next to Kaguya Sumeragi while Sayoko stood behind Nunnally. Cornelia and her Knight/husband Guilford were next to their Empress. And last, but not least, Jeremiah Gottwald, stood apart from them all.

They all gathered around the small table and took their seats, except Nunnally, who still used a wheelchair. Kallen sat on Nunnally's left while the chair between her and Cornelia was left empty for Zero/Suzaku. The seat between Tohdoh and Xianglin was also left empty, in memory of Xingke. On the table, with the bottom facing Nunnally was a picture of Lelouch in his Ashford uniform, one of the better pictures they could find.

Slowly, as one, they all picked up the glasses in front of them, raised them high and muttered, "To Lelouch Lamperouge and his world peace". They avoided saying Lelouch's real name in case anyone heard them and because it was the name Lelouch liked to go by. Cornelia, Nunnally, Jeremiah, Kaguya all gave their own, small, toasts to Lelouch. Kallen did one the last two years, but refrained from doing so this year. The hole hurt too much.

This was the extent of their gathering, nothing too big, just the way Lelouch liked it. Sometimes, someone would come up with a story of Lelouch that they told the group. Usually, it was Nunnally and Cornelia who told them about Lelouch's childhood. Kallen always liked those; it was interesting to hear about a young Lelouch, before he became the terrorist Zero. This year, there were no stories. They just sat quietly.

"Anyone seen C.C.?" Ohgi finally asked. C.C. was another subject brought up during these gatherings. They all knew that she had given Lelouch his Geass and were curious about her and Lelouch's relationship. But the last time anyone had seen her was a few days after the Zero Requiem when she was spotted traveling on a straw cart in a remote part of the United States of China.

Xianglin, Cornelia, and Jeremiah all shook their heads, none of them had seen so much as a hint of C.C. _Yet another person missing in our mourning of Lelouch_ Kallen thought. She had grown somewhat closer to the witch in the time between rebellions and was probably the only one left alive who knew anything about her.

"If C.C. doesn't want to be found, I'm guessing we won't be seeing her ever again" Jeremiah said. Kallen had to agree with him there.

Finally, the silence became too much and everyone rose to leave. A little early but no one could come up with any reason to stay. Kallen was the last one to leave; Cornelia and Sayoko stayed with Nunnally of course.

Not willing to return to Japan just yet, Kallen walked the streets of New Pendragon aimlessly, thoughts of Lelouch filling her head. She didn't know how long she walked but by the time she regained her wits, it was already dark. Although Kallen felt she was able to easily protect herself from anyone who would be foolish enough to approach her, something about this night unnerved her.

A half a second later, Kallen thought she had the reason; she was being followed. Deciding to catch her stalker by surprise and not the other way around, Kallen kept walking, acting as if she didn't know about the mysterious person.

They continued to walk for a couple more minutes, the person slowly getting closer and closer. Finally, Kallen felt as if the time to strike was now. Faster than she could blink, she spun around to face her stalker, hidden knife out and ready. But something made her stop. Her pursuer was standing under a street light, and just barely visible under the person's hood was a strand of green hair.

Frozen, Kallen just stood and stared at the person who just might be the mysterious C.C. After a few seconds of watching each other, C.C. (if it was her) turned around and walked away. Kallen didn't waste a second and quickly followed. She had to know if it was C.C. and if it was why was she here and following her?

The pursued turned into the pursuer and the chase slowly started to build up speed until C.C. dashed into an alley. Once again, Kallen didn't hesitate; never thinking that C.C. wanted her to follow, Kallen dashed after her. The chase zigzagged all along various alleys and around numerous buildings.

Thirty seconds in, Kallen realized that C.C. wasn't making any attempt to shake her off. She was always just barely able to find out where the witch was going and if she lost her, C.C. was waiting nearby for Kallen to find her a second later. Uneasy, Kallen gripped her blade tighter, ready to use it in case of an ambush.

At long last, the chase came to a close. Kallen burst out into an open area to find C.C., hood off, smiling and waiting for her in front of an abandoned warehouse. Blue eyes met amber for a brief second and then the green haired girl slipped into a side door to the warehouse. Kallen carefully moved over to the door and entered.

The warehouse was dark and silent, each of Kallen's footsteps echoing loudly. She crept forward slowly; eyes open wide, trying to see her own hand in front of her face. Where was C.C.? Was there another entrance to the warehouse, had she already escaped? What was the purpose of leading her here?

"C.C., show yourself!" Kallen cried out to the darkness.

"There's no need to shout Kallen" came the soft response. "I'm right here."

Kallen spun around to see C.C., squeezing her Cheese-kun tightly. She was dressed in a prisoner's outfit and had a bored expression on her face.

"So, you found me" the witch said.

"Cut the theatrics C.C." Kallen yelled, shifting the knife in her hand in front of her body, ready to attack. "Why did you want me to follow you?"

"Why indeed?" Her expression didn't change, though she did tilt her head up slightly. "Oh be quiet Lelouch, you failed to keep up your end of our contract so I'm forced to find someone else."

"Lelouch? What are you talking about?"

C.C. relaxed a bit and turned to face Kallen directly, eyes focused. "I can talk to Lelouch via my connection to C's World. He's quite opposed to my plan."

"And what plan is that?" Kallen asked, ready to charge if C.C. showed even a hint of being a threat.

"Tell me Kallen, are you happy with the way the world is?"

"Don't answer my question with a question!"

"What if I were to give you the opportunity to change everything, the chance to save Lelouch?"

Kallen almost dropped her knife. "Wha…?"

"I can give it to you, you know. You could save Lelouch and enjoy the peace he brought together. All I ask is that you fulfill my one wish."

"You're going to give me Geass, aren't you?"

"In a way. This Geass would be different, one unlike any before and any to come after."

"What do I have to do?" Kallen asked, finally lowering her weapon.

"As I said, you'd have to fulfill my wish."

"No, I meant to save Lelouch."

"That is entirely up to you. However, to do anything you must first accept my contract and its terms."

Kallen hesitated. On one hand, she'd be given the chance to save Lelouch and maybe even have a future with him. On the other, she knew absolutely nothing of what C.C. wanted from her or how to save Lelouch. While Kallen debated back and forth with herself, C.C. just watched with an amused expression.

"All right," Kallen said, "I'll accept your contract."

C.C.'s smile changed and Kallen suddenly felt a slight burning sensation in her left eye. As soon as ended, Kallen didn't need a mirror to know she had Geass.

"This Geass is unlike any other in existence." explained C.C. "It will transport you three years into the past so that you can change the present and future. Once you arrive, it will allow you to unlock the memories of those you use it on. However, it will only work on those still alive at the present moment but they'll remember everything that has happened from the point you used it to now.

"Also, like regular Geass, you must be careful with its use. If you use it too much its power will overwhelm you, running the risk of unlocking the memories of anyone who meets your gaze. Use your power wisely and Lelouch will be saved. Now go Kallen, and fulfill our contract."

The last thing Kallen saw was C.C. smiling, a genuine smile, before the whole world turned black. There was nothing for a few seconds, and then Kallen's entire world started shaking. When she opened her eyes, Kallen found herself in Knightmare's pilot seat. The frame shook as two perusing Knightmares opened fire on her with their rifles.

Kallen hightailed it out of there. Where ever she was, it wasn't the familiar cockpit of the Guren; otherwise she would've turned the other Knightmares into spare parts. While she was trying to figure out where she was, the radio came alive and Kallen heard a voice she didn't think she'd ever hear again.

"The west entrance. Use the tracks to move to the west entrance."


	2. Chapter 2

**I have gotten a few reviews praising this story so I think it's a hit, for now. Thank-you to everyone who reviewed, followed, and liked this story; I'll do my best to keep in your good graces. Just a heads up, I'm going to hold off on the third chapter for a while as I want to take every review into consideration and, with three home football games in a row in September, I'll be too busy during the week to do much. I just love college football. Once again, thanks to everyone and please drop a review.**

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"_The west entrance. Use the tracks to move to the west entrance." _

"Lelouch" Kallen whispered, shocked yet pleased at the same time. She had done it; she had actually gone back in time. To Shinjuku apparently. Although not too bad a place to be, Kallen was hoping for something else. She had also entertained brief thoughts of going back further to try and save her brother. '_Oh well'_, Kallen thought, '_at least I might be able to influence Lelouch before he becomes Zero'. _

"Did you hear me?" Lelouch called back, taking her silence as a miscommunication. "If you want to win, go to the west entrance."

"Right!" she called back. She'd have to proceed carefully, if she obeyed him like she was used to, Lelouch might mistake her for a fool who would do what anyone said. She had to show just enough willingness to follow orders, but also a certain degree of mistrust. This was going to be difficult.

Just like before, Kallen raced towards the tracks, jumping from a nearby bridge. Jeremiah, at least Kallen suspected it was him, and another Knightmare easily followed.

"O.K., now what?" she called over the radio at the same time as the train carrying the new Sutherlands appeared.

"Since you trusted me you're going to win. Jump onto the train!"

The scenario played out just as before. Jeremiah slowed the train down while his partner attempted to pursue her, only to be cut down by Lelouch's hidden Sutherland. He then opened fire on Jeremiah and Kallen attempted to finish him, only for her future ally to jettison his cockpit.

"You saved me, but how did you get a hold of a Sutherland?"

Kallen knew how of course, Villeta had often ranted against Lelouch and his Geass in the months after the Black Knights betrayal, but it was best to keep up appearances. She only hoped that things would end a lot better this time around.

"Kallen!" Ohgi had arrived. "What was the radio message earlier?"

"What? He contacted you too?"

"Are you the one in charge?" Lelouch asked Ohgi, who confirmed it. "I present to you the cargo in that train over there. They're tools for your victory. If you want to use them to win, they follow my orders."

Even knowing about it before hand still didn't stop Kallen from being surprised. '_How on earth did Lelouch know about these? There's no way he had his Geass long enough to send them_.'

"Woman in the Glasgow, stay where you are. Your unit is going to run decoy, you got that?"

"Understood!" Kallen had to fight to not say either Lelouch or Zero, both would be easily picked up by Lelouch and then she would lose him.

"What's your energy filler status?"

"About fifteen minutes worth."

"Then recharge it. In ten minutes I'll contact with your next instructions."

Kallen sighed as the radio went off. It was strange and, surprisingly, somewhat pleasant to be ordered around by Lelouch again. As she waited, she thought about who to use her own Geass on and bring to her side.

Jeremiah was a given, his loyalty to Lelouch was only matched by her own and Nunnally's. The Empress herself was also a must, she needed someone at Ashford to talk to about everything and Nunnally was perfect. Not to mention having her know Zero's identity would be useful and she was sure the girl would like to be taken care of by her brother again. Sayoko was also a good option. The maid/ninja had proved useful in the past and could be even more so now. There was also the fact that she was also loyal to the Lamperouges as well.

"Woman in the Glasgow, it's time. Are you ready?"

"I have a name you know!" Kallen snapped back.

"I don't doubt it, but as I don't your name and I can't keep calling you 'woman in the Glasgow' I'm giving you a code name. From now on you're Q-1, got it?"

"Got it."

She was Q-1 again, the queen. Zero's queen, Zero's ace. Lelouch's queen. The familiar call sign made her heart swell. She couldn't wait to get back to Ashford as see Lelouch face to face again.

Lelouch continued to give out code names to the others, becoming pawns, knights, bishops, and a few castles. Strangely, no one else got the chess reference.

"Wait a minute. P-1, N-1, B-2; everyone else has a team except me, I'm the only Q. Are these code names anything like chess?"

"Very perceptive Q-1, you catch on fast."

"Wait!" yelled Tamaki, "I'm P-5, does that mean I'm a pawn. "I'm nobody's pawn!"

"Shut it Tamaki!" Kallen yelled back, "It's just a code name. And since everyone here is a pawn, knight, or bishop, and I'm the queen, does that made you the king, Mr. Mysterious Voice."

There was silence for a few seconds before Lelouch responded. "Very well, for lack of a code name of my own, you can call me K-1."

Once again, Lelouch sent Kallen out by herself to draw the Britannians into an ambush, as she was the only unit that the enemy could see on their IFF. This scared Kallen a bit. Like the enemy, and Lelouch, she couldn't see her allies and didn't know where they were. She'd just have to trust that Lelouch knew where everybody was at all times and wouldn't get her killed. It was no problem as she had full trust in him and nothing would be able to shake that trust this time around.

Kallen stared at her IFF which had two Knightmare squads headed right for her. There was gunfire behind her and one of the squads vanished. The Britannians hadn't even know what had happened. Soon, the same thing was happening all over the ghetto as Lelouch showed his tactical prowess. One by one, Britannian military groups were identified as LOST.

It didn't take the military commanders long to change their IFF codes and Kallen lost sight of everyone. However, Lelouch was using a stolen Sutherland, which was updated with the new codes and he could continue to see where everyone was. Needless to say, the Britannians continued to fall. Kallen smirked; she'd pay almost anything to see their commanders' faces right about now. A small bunch of 'inferior Elevens' were taking out the most powerful military force on the planet easily, again.

As the rebel group that would one day become the Black Knights fought, they began to take K-1's orders without hesitation or question. They started gaining momentum and pushed the Britannians out of the ghetto.

"Now then," Lelouch's voice came over the radio, "the enemy has five options. It's their move."

They waited for the Britannian's reaction and K-1's counter-action. A few minutes later they were moving again.

"Yes," Kallen replied to Lelouch's question, "I have a map of the old town, but there are no current landmarks."

"It'll do. With this, I call check."

"Check? What does he mean check? This isn't a game, it's real combat!"

Kallen and the others ignored Tamaki as she and the others prepared the ambush that would finish off the Britannians. The familiar feeling of victory filled her. Then, the signal was given and the trap sprung. Although only Lelouch could see the complete amount of damage done to the enemy, Kallen and the others watched in horror as the street collapsed, making a long hole that swallowed dozens of Knightmares.

"Forget 'check'," Ohgi said, "this guy could actually make check-mate."

"What, you mean capture the Viceroy? What do you think Kallen?"

Kallen didn't respond. Here, she was reminded of just how good Lelouch really was, especially in the final battle over Mt. Fuji. It only reaffirmed her conviction that she did not want to face Lelouch in battle. The radio crackled a bit and a strange sound was coming over it. It took a few seconds but Kallen finally placed it, Lelouch was laughing. And not just any laugh, it was maniacal. Not for the first time did she wonder if Geass had made Lelouch just a little bit insane.

"So, what do we do now?"

"Keep alert Ohgi. The Britannians won't take this lying down. No doubt they're preparing something big as payback."

Kallen didn't know any other way to get them ready to face the Lancelot without giving away that she knew about it. She was the only one who could go up against Suzaku and the Lancelot and with the Glasgow in its current condition; she wouldn't be able to win at all. None the less, she moved towards Lelouch's position.

Within minutes the reports were coming in. Ohgi and the others were quickly taken down, showing the advanced power of the Lancelot and the superb fighting skills of Suzaku. Kallen growled as she listened to her comrades fall. In order for Zero to succeed she may have to recruit Suzaku to her side and she doubted he would be very cooperative with Princess Euphemia alive again.

"You mean this thing is what's ruining my plan!"

It was time; Suzaku was attacking Lelouch. Rushing in, she got in-between the two friends.

"K-1, get outta here! I'll hold him off for as long as I can."

"Right." Lelouch did what she said, and without even a simple thank-you.

As expected, the combination of the advanced frame and its pilot made defeating the Lancelot almost impossible with her Glasgow. However, she was Zero's ace and had fought this thing before. It would hurt her pride to lose to it again after finally beating it in their last battle, but it couldn't be helped.

Thankfully, Kallen's previous fights with Suzaku had taught her how he moved and fought, and she used it against him. She was able to buy Lelouch a few seconds lead, but it was enough. _'If things go the way they did before, he'll head to the command center and force Clovis to call a cease-fire. That'll end this battle for good.' _

When her ejection seat landed, Kallen started looking for Ohgi, hoping he made it safely. He had, and directed her towards a warehouse where the remaining members of their group had evacuated several civilians.

"How many were killed because of this?" a woman screamed.

"Shut it, do you know how many of us were killed or captured!" Tamaki yelled back, threatening those who were the most vocal in their protests with his rifle.

"Tamaki, stop it! They're Japanese just like us." Kallen scolded him. She then turned to the civilians. "We know many were killed because of our actions, but more would've died if we did nothing. Now please, all of you calm down while we try and get you all out of here."

"Kallen," Ohgi asked, "do you know what happened to K-1? He's not responding to me."

"No." 'Hopefully it makes it to the command center in time.'

Suddenly, the wall behind her exploded and a Britannian tank and dozens of soldiers swarmed in.

"There, you see!" Tamaki wasn't going to quiet down anytime soon. "Instead of listening to someone we don't even know we just should've used the poison gas!"

"Here, in the middle of the ghetto? Just think about how many of us would've been killed! Civilians too!" Kallen could barely stand Tamaki anymore. And he would get worse as the Black Knights gained popularity.

"So this is where you Eleven vermin scurried off to." the tank commander said. "Prepare to fire." He raised his arm, ready to give the order.

'_No, Lelouch!_ Kallen screamed in her head, '_Did you not make it in time? I'm sorry!_'

"Fir…" The commander's order was drowned out by Clovis's voice.

"Attention all forces, cease fire at once!"

'_He made it!'_ Tears started to fall down Kallen's face, she was actually afraid that Lelouch wouldn't arrive in time or wouldn't order the cease fire.

"I, Clovis, Third Prince of Britannia and Royal Viceroy of Area Eleven hereby command you; all forces are to cease fire at once! You will also cease destruction of buildings and property. All casualties, whether Britannian or Eleven, shall be treated equally and without prejudice. In the name of Clovis la Britannia, you are hereby ordered, cease fire at once, I will allow no further fighting!"

The soldiers hesitated but even they had to obey a royal decree. They lowered their weapons and let everyone past them. Kallen could feel some of their eyes on her, her Britannian face sticking out. Ohgi must've seen it too, as he took off his jacket and gave it to her. It's bulk hide her obvious Eleven clothing and helped disguise her a bit from the soldiers.

"Why are we letting the Elevens go?" a familiar voice screamed nearby. Turning, Kallen saw Jeremiah yelling into a radio, clearly upset at letting everybody go after the battle. A plan quickly formed in Kallen's head.

"Ohgi," she said, slipping next to him. "We've got to separate."

"What?" he asked as she handed him his jacket back.

"I'm obviously a Britannian, if the soldiers she me in a crowd of Elevens they'll get suspicious. If I separate from you guys, I can pretend I got lost in the ghetto and easily make my way back into the Settlement. Plus, if they do catch me, they won't get any of you."

Ohgi thought about it for a few seconds. "All right, but be careful, Naoto would kill me if anything happened to you. Don't do anything reckless and when you get there, stay in the Settlement. I'll contact you later."

"Right." Kallen responded. As soon as she was free of the crowd, Kallen raced off towards Jeremiah.

"Get the general staff on the line!" she shouted before Kallen ran into him. "What the…?" He raised his hand to slap her away and saw that she was Britannian.

'_Time to see just how good my acting really is'_ Kallen thought before putting a look of horror on her face and crying fake tears.

"Please, sir, you've got to help me, I can't find him anywhere!" she 'cried' hysterically.

"Whoa, slow down Miss. Who are you looking for, and why are you here in the ghettos?"

"My boyfriend. I persuaded him to take me to see the ghettos, but we got separated and now I can't find him. Please, you have to help me."

Jeremiah's face softened and he lead her over to a more private area, away from the Elevens. _'Stupid Britannians, they fall for the scared little schoolgirl routine every time'_.

"What's his name?" Jeremiah asked. The perfect opening Kallen had been waiting for.

"Lelouch, Lelouch Lamperouge."

The radio was already halfway up to his mouth to make the call when the name finally registered. Eyes wide, he turned to face her, his shock nearly making her break out into giggles.

'_Is this what everyone would look like if I said Lelouch's name. Granted, he's one of a few that could put the former prince's name and his mother's maiden name together and get the right answer'_.

Finally, Kallen decided it was time to bring her first ally into the fold. Activating her Geass, she looked Jeremiah right in the eye and said, "Awaken Jeremiah Gottwald."

The man swayed slightly, eyes closed, and then stumbled as his eyes opened again.

"Lady Kallen? What…" Then, his eyes got wide and he understood everything as his future memories came back. "Geass? But how?"

"I met C.C. not long after I left our little memorial. She gave me this power to help Lelouch and then sent me back in time."

"This, this is Shinjuku. Then, Lelouch is still alive, we can still save him!"

"Calm down Jeremiah. Yes, we can save Lelouch, but Zero hasn't made his appearance yet so there is little we can do. Right now, you and I are the only ones who have memories of the future."

"I, I am honored you would pick me as the first to help you Lady Kallen. Who else are we going to bring into this?"

"Right now, I'm thinking Nunnally and Sayoko, they'll be a big help. I may bring Suzaku into this later, but I want to wait first."

"Understood. We'll have to work slowly and carefully so as to not change the timeline too much before we get things the way we want them. Go to Ashford, wake up the Empress and Sayoko, I'll try and keep things under control here. Give me your phone. Call me when things change and I'll do my best to keep you updated. With any luck, everything will be finished before the year is out."

"Right. I'll contact you as soon as Nunnally and Sayoko are awake, until then, take care Jeremiah."

"You too Lady Kallen. Oh, one more thing. If things do work out, do you plan on becoming empress besides Lelouch?"

There was a teasing tone in his voice, but Kallen could also detect a genuine curiosity.

"No. When I do intend to get what was denied me this time around, I have no intention of becoming empress. Lelouch never wanted to become the emperor anyways, so I think that works out in my favor. Besides, I think Kallen Lamperouge has a better ring to it than Kallen vi Britannia, don't you think?"

"That it does mi Lady, that it does."

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**There's the second chapter and Kallen is already working on saving Lelouch. Question for everyone who'll continue reading this, who do you want Kallen to 'wake up'? Please tell me in a review or PM who you want, when they should wake up, and why. I need a reason so that I can shape the plot. **

**Or, you could tell me who you **_**don't**_** want to be woken up. Tell me the reason for that too. And please, don't tell me to do it because you like/dislike this character, or how awesome/pathetic that character is; it needs to be a valid reason. I will take all input into account when writing the story, so if you want a certain character right away, do it now. **


	3. Chapter 3

**I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter and provided their input; it seems a lot of people are really starting to like this story. People also like that Jeremiah is awake and that Sayoko will be too. Most everyone likes that fact that Kallen will wake up Nunnally and have given me some ideas on whom else to wake up. **

**Tohdoh is quite the popular choice as a highly intelligent individual as well as one of the few who are loyal to Zero and know the truth. Obliviously he won't show up for a while. A big surprise is Milly. The reasoning behind this is because she knows Lelouch's identity as a prince and when woken up would know his identity as Zero and Kallen's as a Black Knight. I'm not exactly sure how this would help and would appreciate it if someone would explain why. **

**About half of you are split if I should wake Suzaku or not. As such, he, Cornelia, and Guilford will stay the way they are for now.**

* * *

It was really late when Kallen somehow managed to sneak back into Stadfeld Manor. Just being back brought back countless memories she spent here growing up with her brother while, unknown to her, their mother carefully watched from the shadows. Speaking of which…

"Mistress," Miss Kōzuki said, appearing from a side room, "you are back?"

Kallen couldn't help herself, tears started to fall down her face at the sight of her mother. After Lelouch's death, Nunnally had helped free her from prison and the two had moved into a small apartment in Tokyo while Kallen finished school.

Her mother knew of her feelings towards Lelouch as mothers knew such things, but never said anything about him. Whether she was respecting Kallen's love or knew the truth Kallen didn't know, nor did she want to.

"Yes, I'm back. And I'm sorry for staying out so late again Mother."

Kallen then walked forward and engulfed the woman in a hug, surprising the maid. Actually, she was even more surprised by the hug, having been shocked by what Kallen had just called her. As far as Miss Kōzuki knew, Kallen hadn't called that for at least seven years while to Kallen, it had only been a day.

"Mistress, what…?"

"Oh Mother you can drop the title, it's just the two of us here right now."

"Kallen, what's going on?"

Kallen was tempted to use her Geass on her mother, but decided against it. She never knew about the mysterious power and might freak out if she suddenly found herself in the past. No, it was best to keep her ignorant for now.

"I, I just found out the reason you stayed here. I'm so sorry for not figuring it out sooner. I love you, I love you so much."

Miss Kōzuki looked down at her daughter, smiling. "And I love you too Kallen."

"Then promise me." Kallen shouted, pulling away from her mother's embrace. "Promise me that you'll quit using Refrain." Her mother looked shocked that she knew one of her secrets. "I'm here now and I always will be. You don't need that drug to be happy. The past was good yes, and the present hurts, but we need to move on, look to the future.

"The future is always better and the two of us together will make it the best we can. We'll make new memories, ones better than before and we won't need something stupid as Refrain to remember them because we'll make them memorable. So promise me, promise me you'll stop using Refrain."

Kallen glared hard at her mother for several seconds before Miss Kōzuki finally looked down at her feet, ashamed.

"I'll try, sweetheart, but it won't be easy."

"I'll help you Mother. I won't lose you to that drug and you won't lose me again."

"Thank-you, that's all I need. With you helping me I'll be off Refrain in days; I'll even get rid of my stash right now."

"Thank-you" Kallen said. The two women embraced again before Kallen moved towards the stairs.

"Oh, and Kallen? We'll talk about your staying out at all hours later, young lady."

Kallen laughed as her mother tried and failed to scold her. Only when she was back in her old room did everything suddenly crashed upon her. She really was back in time, she had Geass, and, most importantly, Lelouch was still alive. Just the thought of seeing his face again sent tingles up her spine.

She wondered what he was doing right now. What about Nunnally? Were they spending time together or were they asleep. Did the two siblings manage to say goodnight to each other before hand?

And then there was Jeremiah. She had been 'awake' for a few more hours than him and it was just now starting to sink in, and she had known about it before hand. He seemed oddly composed for someone who just learned they were back in time. Then again, he was a soldier and had spent his whole life raised in nobility so he could probably hold it together and hide it quite well.

Would he spend the night thinking up plan after plan on how to save Lelouch? She was never very good at that, in fact, she usually rushed right into things and thought it all through after. But, after working with Lelouch for the short amount of time he did and his military career, Jeremiah probably could come up with an idea or two on what needed to be done and when.

She and Sayoko, and maybe Nunnally, would talk with him about it after she woke the other two up. However, first things first, she would need to get close to them before she could use her Geass and that meant getting back on the Student Council. It wouldn't be too hard; things would most likely play out like before.

Looking at her clock, Kallen saw that it was a little past midnight. _'Crap! With all of these thoughts running through my head I'll never get to sleep and I've never been much of a morning person. I just hope I can cover it up well enough at school tomorrow.'_

The next morning was worse than Kallen predicted. She slept through her alarm twice, bruised and burned herself in the shower, put her blouse on backwards, and was half-way to school when she realized that her hair was done in her regular terrorist fashion and not her sickly girl fashion. All in all, it was not her best morning.

The entire way, Kallen couldn't stop thinking about Lelouch and how she would act around him. She had grown so used to him being her leader after the Black Rebellion that she was afraid that she would let something slip. Plus he would become suspicious if she acted too friendly towards him or talked about things she shouldn't know about. Being around him would take all of her acting skills plus some.

At long last, the anticipated moment arrived. Kallen was talking with some of her old 'friends' when Lelouch entered the classroom. She broke off in mid-sentence and stared at him as he stared back. He looked different than she remembered, a little paler and none of the confidence he had as Zero.

"Hey Kallen," Sophie, one on her 'friends' giggled, "Do you like Lelouch?" The other girls giggled as well as Kallen's face started to burn a bit.

"No, I…. It's not like that, I just had trouble placing his face." she managed to stutter out, but her friends didn't believe her, her blush the only answer they needed.

Behind her, she could hear Rivalz teasing Lelouch in a similar manner. "What's up buddy, see something you like? You've got a thing for her, don't cha?"

'_Not yet Blue Boy'_, Kallen thought. Then, yet another worry hit her. Nearly every girl at Ashford had a crush on Lelouch, even the ones who already had a boyfriend. How in the world was she supposed to get him to think she was different from every other girl who wanted to date him? Nunnally would be of some help but that would only take her so far. What was she to do?

The question plagued her all day as she watched Lelouch, who was also watching her. Finally, she decided she needed Jeremiah's help on this as he probably knew him best right now. She would also talk to Nunnally as soon as she was awake as she was sure for former empress would have a few ideas.

When a bee chased her during lunch Kallen had to control herself to not growl out her frustrations with her so called friends. The thing wouldn't hurt them if they didn't bother it but they ran away screaming like it could kill them with a single touch. Oddly, the bee only showed interest in Kallen.

'_Did Lelouch use his Geass on it to get me alone and try and see how I really act?'_ she asked herself. She briefly remembered a bee following her just before she met Lelouch for the first time. _'Does Geass even work on animals?'_ Slowly and carefully, Kallen raised her arm and took aim. With a quick slash she cut the bee in two.

"God I hate this!" Kallen said, standing up. She knew Lelouch was nearby and it was time for a show. "If only that voice from Shinjuku had helped more I wouldn't be stuck here with these stupid Britannians!"

Angrily taking a bite of her sandwich, Kallen turned to see Lelouch right where he should've been.

"Can, can I help you with something?" she asked in her sickly routine.

Suddenly, the Geass signal appeared in Lelouch's left eye and Kallen knew what was going to happen next. _'Please don't let me reveal information about the future'_. The feeling was blissful, almost making Kallen lose herself in it. She just wanted to float away with it and forget everything, however she fought against it. After a second, Kallen realized that she still had full function of her body and the only thing different was a soft buzzing sound in her ears.

"I want answers." Lelouch said sternly.

The buzzing increased and Kallen felt and heard something voiceless give her commands, telling her what to say. Kallen knew that it was the Geass forcing her to obey Lelouch. She continued to be fully aware of herself and surroundings during the whole interrogation with the Geass providing her answers. Sometimes, when Kallen was asked a question she didn't want to answer for fear of revealing too much, a different voice provided a second answer for her.

'_Is this what it's like to be under the influence of Geass?'_ It felt funny, yet strangely familiar. Another strange thing was the voiceless commands. When Kallen focused on them, it was almost like Lelouch was talking to her with the first one and she was talking to herself as the second. _'Why is this happening I wonder?'_

Then, the feeling stopped and Kallen was released from the Geass.

"Um, did you want something?" It was best to pretend to be ignorant of Geass at the moment.

"No," Lelouch said, turning away, "I got what I wanted here." He then started to walk away. Just before she started to walk away as well, Lelouch turned back around. "Oh, wait. Just to be sure, don't tell anyone about Shinjuku."

His Geass activated and Kallen waited for the buzzing sensation, but it never came.

"Huh? What about Shinjuku?"

It activated a third time and still no buzzing.

"Go back to class!"

"Not until I get an answer to my question. What do you know about Shinjuku?"

The two stared at each other for a while, the tension mounting, until Shirley shouted at them from a nearby window about chemistry. Lelouch then made a pathetic excuse about setting up before racing off.

'_That was definitely strange. I better tell Jeremiah about this.'_ As soon as she got back from Ashford she did just that.

"Gottwald here."

"Jeremiah, it's me."

"Lady K-!" There was a pause, some muffled talking and then silence before Jeremiah began talking again. "Sorry about that, I was just finishing a meeting with some other members of the Purebloods. You guys did a real number this time around."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll have to remember Kallen that sometimes won't happen exactly the same way as they did before. This is because just the slightest change, a half-second hesitation or a different thought pattern will affect the battle in ways even Lelouch won't be able to predict. This time around you destroyed about a couple dozen or so more Knightmares and civilian casualties were lower. Whatever you did to get Clovis to call the cease-fire happened earlier, so things turned out different."

"Right, understood."

"Is there a reason for this call Lady Kallen?"

"I made contact with Lelouch today."

"Is he awake, when can we start planning?"

"No, he's not awake and he won't be. My power only affects those who were alive when I went back in time."

A pause.

"Understood, this changes things a bit. I've spent most of the day working through several plans that Master Lelouch would need after he woke up. Now I'll need to change them."

"Yeah, sorry, I should've told you before. I guess it slipped my mind. I'm also guessing there are some things I wasn't made aware of that you and Lelouch took care off?"

"Yes, there are. For one thing, there's the Geass Order we need to dispose of, but that can wait until we have C.C., for now focus on waking up those that we need. While on that note, I was wondering if it would be possible to bring Villetta into this."

"I'm sorry Jeremiah, but that would be too dangerous right now. She's currently loyal to the Britannian Pureblood system and if I wake her up now, she'll probably freak out and try and find Ohgi. That would put them both in danger. Not to mention the loss of Naoto would be a big blow to them. For now, I think its best that we don't wake them up, maybe ever."

"You're right, I was just hoping I could have someone friendly and sympathetic to us here. I'm by myself but you'll soon have Empress Nunnally and Lelouch, even though he isn't awake."

"Right. By the way, what do you know of Lelouch's Geass?"

"I'm surprised C.C. didn't tell you everything since you would be going back in time. His Geass allows him to give anyone any command he wants, but only once and it is restricted to eyesight. The exact limitations I don't know, but he probably has figured them out anyway. Why do you ask?"

"Because he tried to use it on me earlier, just like before I think. The thing is, it didn't really work. When he first used it, I felt funny, like I didn't need to worry about anything and could just float away. I was supplied answers to Lelouch's questions by something, I think the Geass, but when he tried it again, I didn't feel anything."

"Interesting. It could be because you've already been exposed to Lelouch's Geass in the past that it doesn't really affect you. That funny feeling you felt must have been your mind recognizing that Lelouch already used his Geass on you but your body doesn't remember."

"Do you think the same thing will happen to you?"

"Maybe, I don't know. Nobody really knows anything about Geass so I can't say for certain. The only way to find out would be to be put under its command. I had planned to change Suzaku being charged with Clovis's murder because of the problems it caused, but I think it might be best to continue along with the original timeline. I'll let you know if something changes, Gottwald out."

The next morning, Kallen watched Lelouch carefully. He acted likely he suspected her of knowing the truth. _'Perfect, he suspects me again. Now everything just needs to work out like before.'_ After class, Kallen was trying to find an excuse to not go out with her friends when Lelouch walked right up to her.

"Do you think you could spare a minute, I need to talk to you."

"Of course Lelouch, I was wonder when you were going to ask."

All of the girls left in the classroom started freaking out, getting the wrong idea yet again. _'Not yet girls, not yet. But don't get your hopes up, he's mine.'_

While Kallen was taking care of things on her end, Jeremiah was beginning one of his plans. He was currently in a meeting with Villetta Nu and Kewell Soresi, the two highest ranking members of the Purebloods apart from himself. Yesterday, Kewell had drawn up a plan to use an Honorary Britannian as a scapegoat for Prince Clovis's murderer.

"Kewell, I went over your proposal last night and I think it's a sound idea but I'm still hesitant to put it into action."

"Why on Earth are you Jeremiah, it's perfect, I've even found the perfect Honorary Britannian. Look, Suzaku Kururugi is the son of Japan's last Prime Minister, it wouldn't be too hard to convince the public he killed the prince as revenge for his father's death and Japan's defeat. We blame Kururugi, get the Honorary Britannian system dismantled, and we advance in position, what do we have to lose?"

"Everything if his highness's true killer reveals himself. That's the only thing that bothers me. If the real killer shows himself while we have Kururugi the Purebloods will be finished. The murder of a Britannian prince is big Kewell, and if we mess up we risk more than just our ranks. That's why I'm giving you the go ahead, but know that if it fails, everything will go back to you. Understand?"

"Yes, sir. But relax, nothing's going to happen. We've investigated from every angle and we're no closer to finding Prince Clovis's killer than we were when we started. If no one's come forward yet, I doubt they ever will."


	4. Chapter 4

**Here is the next chapter for _Kallen of the Recurrence_. I have just finished writing chapter 5, which will be up soon, so I decided it was time to put this up. The ending doesn't seem like it really works for me but I can't think of anything else so tell me what you think.**

**One last thing, Im planning to wake Milly up sometime soon and I want some ideas on how she, Kallen, and C.C. can mess with Lelouch together. Any ideas loyal readers?**

* * *

While Kallen was taking her shower she was also thinking up ingenious ways to kill the Student Council's secretary. Once again the blue haired boy had brought champagne to her welcome party and during the struggle between him and Shirley the top popped off, causing most of the bottle to spill on her. Forget that he was Lelouch's friend; all she wanted to do right now was strangle him.

When Lelouch knocked on the bathroom door, Kallen double checked the curtain. After being sure that it was fully drawn did she allow him in. There would be no repeat of the incident where she was accidently exposed to Lelouch.

"Sorry about all this, I know they can be a little over the top."

"That's O.K. Nothing's wrong with cutting lose every once and a while, you know?"

"I brought you some of my clothes. I hope that's fine."

"It's cool. I've worn some of my brother's clothing before so don't worry about it. By the way, how did you get from the boy's dorm and back here so fast? Not to seem rude but you don't exactly look like you're one of the fittest students on campus."

"Actually, Nunnally and I live here in the clubhouse as it would be difficult for her to live off in the dorms. The principal allows it as a favor to us. Anyways, I let you finish your shower."

She could hear him move towards the door. _'Not yet, Zero hasn't called yet.'_

"Um, Lelouch? Could you please hand me that pouch by the sink?"

There was a bit of rustling and Kallen watched Lelouch's shadow. When he stopped by the shower, he turned away from the curtain to preserve her modesty and stuck his hand through slowly. The moment the pouch was available, Kallen grabbed Lelouch's wrist hard. She had only done this last time to confirm Lelouch was the one who had helped them. As she now knew he was the only point to this was to make Lelouch believe she didn't suspect him.

"Yesterday, you brought up Shinjuku. I want to know why."

"Why do you care, is there something wrong with Shinjuku?"

"Don't answer with a question, I want a straight answer."

Kallen carefully picked her dropped pouch and activated the hidden knife. She also made sure that Lelouch heard the blade slide out so he would recognize the threat. There was a few seconds of silence, and then the phone rang. _'Right on time.'_ After a few rings, Lelouch decided to talk.

"If I don't answer, somebody will come."

'_Yeah right, you're the only one who knows about the phone call._' With his free hand, Lelouch reached around to answer.

"Hello, Ashford Academy Student Council? Uh, no this is…. Oh. It's for you. He says he knows you."

Lelouch then put the receiver through the curtain and Kallen slowly took it.

"Hello?" she asked, knowing exactly who was on the other end.

"Glad to see you're still alive Q-1." Zero's voice, though recorded, was a welcome difference from Lelouch's student one.

"1600 hours the day after tomorrow. The observation deck of Tokyo Tower. Come alone."

The line then hung up and Kallen was about to return the receiver when inspiration hit her. Last time she had nearly giver herself away with sudden comments and embarrassed herself in front of Lelouch, now maybe it was time to do the same.

Adopting a sweet voice that she would never be caught dead using otherwise, Kallen answered "Of course darling, I'll see you then."

She could feel Lelouch stiffen when she said that. _'How's this for payback'_ she asked him.

Taking the phone back from her Lelouch carefully asked, "Let me guess, your boyfriend?"

"Yes," Kallen answered, taking her little joke one step further. "We don't see each other very often as he's so busy and I'm sick a lot, so we try and schedule our dates very carefully."

"I see…. Well, I won't take up any more of your time. By the way, to answer your question I brought up Shinjuku because there are some people who would show it to you as a joke. A lot of that footage is pretty grim. Shirley nearly lost her lunch when she first saw it so I can imagine what it would do to someone like you."

He then left quickly and Kallen scowled a bit before smirking. What an excellent practical joke, she had just called him her boyfriend and he didn't even know it! It would be a lot better when they could officially adopt those roles. However, what she had just done would suffice for now. Suddenly another thought hit her, would Lelouch unofficially get back at her by telling Milly she had a boyfriend. Oh was she going to be in trouble if he did.

* * *

Lelouch leaned against the wall outside the bathroom. His plan to trick Kallen into thinking he wasn't the one who saved her group in Shinjuku was a success, however. Although both he and she knew it was a lie, the line about the call he made about the caller being her boyfriend struck him as odd.

He didn't know what but something about it seemed off. Was it really just a spur-of-the-moment lie she came up with to cover up the call? But the way she said it was too easily, like she truly believed it. Maybe he should rethink the decision to include her into his plans of revolution against Britannia. No, pilots like her didn't just fall out of the sky, especially ones that fought against the Empire. He would allow her to continue to work for him, but he would also have to watch her closely.

* * *

"What a day…"

When Kallen got back to Stadtfeld Manor that night all she wanted to do was go straight to bed. Between the Student Council party, the revelation that Clovis had been assassinated again, and then the bath with the girls, all Kallen wanted to do was go straight to sleep. There was only one problem; the bed was already occupied. A familiar girl-haired girl was laying on it, her feet up in the air, and reading a pizza magazine.

"So," she asked without even looking up, "Do you like the power I gave you?"

"C.C.?"

"Hello Q-1."

"Wha-what are you doing here?"

"I woke up in Shinjuku and needed a place to stay. I'm not going to talk to Lelouch for a couple of days so you were the next best option. You're not going to kick me out onto the streets are you?"

The witch finally looked up to reveal amber eyes full of mischief.

"How…?"

The girl went back to her magazine without a care. "Simple, your window was unlocked and it was easy to break onto the grounds. I got bored waiting for you so I went out and got something to eat and read. You haven't used you power that much I see."

Kallen took a seat in a nearby chair, too shocked to say or do anything else.

"You remember?"

"Yes, quite well. So, who's awake?"

"Just Jeremiah for now, but I plan on waking Nunnally and Sayoko tomorrow."

"Well, I suppose that'll have to do for now. I'll have a talk with old Jerry tomorrow as there are a few things to take care of."

"Like the Geass Order?"

"He told you about it did you?"

"Only about its existence. What is the Order anyways?"

"It's basically a group of Geass users who conduct research into Geass. I led the Order for a while though it's now led by V.V., Charles's older brother and Lelouch's uncle. Lelouch had the whole Order eliminated after Shirley's death as punishment for their role in it. Some of the members work as assassins for V.V., one of which was Rolo. While I don't personally want the Order's destruction it is necessary to protect Lelouch."

"I see, and how long do you plan on staying here?"

"Only until Zero makes his big debut, then I'll stay with Lelouch."

"Why not go to him now?"

"Aw, don't want my company? I just wanted to check in with you first as you'll be running the show this time around. I just came here to let you know that I remember everything. That, and the look on your face was priceless."

"Witch!"

"Funny, that's what Lulu always called me. You have more in common than I thought."

As C.C. entered her bathroom with a laugh, Kallen groaned. She didn't know how Lelouch was able to deal with her, barely five minutes had passed as she wanted to kill her already. Then again, she wanted to kill a lot of people and C.C. had always annoyed her.

* * *

The next morning Kallen carefully walked into the Lamperouge's house. So far Lelouch didn't appear to be home and that was good if she wanted to wake Nunnally and Sayoko. Thankfully, if Lelouch was home, she had the perfect excuse to be there.

"Hello? Who's there?"

Kallen jumped about a foot into the air. She had been so focused on being sneaky that Nunnally's question had spooked her. A door opened to her right and Sayoko the maid stood in the doorway, alert for any danger towards her charge. Upon seeing Kallen, the former ninja hid her ready-pose so fast, only Kallen's knowledge of it allowed her to notice.

"Oh, Miss Kallen, what are you doing here?"

"Kallen? You mean the new Student Council member?"

Nunnally's wheelchair and its occupant rolled into view behind Sayoko. "Is that you Kallen?"

"Yeah, it's me Nunnally. I came to return something I borrowed from Lelouch yesterday, is he home?"

"No," Sayoko said, stepping forward to take the clothes Kallen had borrowed. "He said he had to take care of some errands this morning before school so he left early."

"Big brother didn't even stay to have breakfast with me" Nunnally said sadly, her head down.

"Oh, I see." Acting as if she suddenly had a revelation, Kallen asked, "Do you mind if I join you for breakfast Nunnally? I haven't eaten myself."

The future empress happily looked up. "Oh that'd be wonderful Kallen, we could get to know one another."

'_Yeah'_ Kallen thought, thinking back to the time she was in prison and Nunnally came to visit her.

Nunnally led the way to the dining room, where a small breakfast was laid out at an empty spot. Nunnally moved her wheelchair to the open spot and starting eating slowly while Kallen took the seat in front of the girl. Sayoko returned a minute later, having returned Lelouch's clothes to his room, with a small tray for Kallen. The ninja/maid place the tray in front of Kallen and turned to leave.

"Sayoko?"

"Yes Miss Kallen" the maid asked, turned to face her mistress's guest, only to gasp at the sigil in the red-head's left eye. Kallen smirked, Sayoko had turned at the exact same time Nunnally looked up to ask her something, and both were caught in the Geass's path.

Both froze as the Geass took ahold. Sayoko swayed slightly but quickly straighten herself with a serious expression while Nunnally dropped her spoon. The two stared at the princess as she struggled with something. Slowly, Nunnally opened her eyes to reveal the same violet eyes of her brother.

"Kallen?"

"Hello your Majesty." Kallen said, dropping her sickly persona as it was no longer needed.

"But, how…?"

"C.C. sent me back to change everything. Now Lelouch is alive again and I plan on keeping him that way."

"Uh, Lelouch!"

Nunnally moved her hand to the controls of her wheelchair, looking down to see where they were, before freezing again.

"I…can see?"

"Yes. My Geass restores your memories, so I'm guessing it also allowed you to see again."

Tears appeared in Nunnally's eyes and she did nothing to wipe them away.

"I'm…so happy. I can see Lelouch again, and everybody. I'm so happy."

Kallen smiled as she stood. It was probably best to leave the girl now, she could explain everything later.

"Kallen? You came back to save Lelouch didn't you."

Turning around Kallen saw that Nunnally still had tears in her eyes but was receiving support from a happy Sayoko. Both were looking at her, waiting for an answer though Sayoko had a knowing look on her face.

"Yes, I did."

"Do you love him?"

If asked by anyone else, Kallen would've said no. Perhaps that was why his was blushing more than usual. Nunnally didn't seem to care though and her smile just got wider.

"Oh, I'm so happy. Maybe this time we'll actually get to be sisters."

It was at this point Kallen's blush was so bad she actually wished Nunnally _couldn't_ see, Sayoko too from the way she was giggling.

"Nunnally! That probably won't happen for some time as there are a few things Lelouch and I need to take care of first."

"I know, he's got to be Zero again, doesn't he?"

She looked so sad that Kallen actually wanted to say that Lelouch wouldn't become Zero this time, but knew it was pointless. He had already taken the first steps and there was no way he was going to stop now.

"Yes, but things are going to be different. Euphemia and Shirley won't die and Lelouch won't be made into a demon, I promise."

"Thank-you Kallen, you're the best almost-sister I could ask for. I wonder how different things are going to be."

"Well, for one thing," Sayoko interjected, "you'll be able to see Master Lelouch during the Cross-Dressers Festival."

All three shared a laugh at how adorable Lelouch looked then and the look on his face when Milly 'declared' her love for him. Maybe she should try and wake Milly, she was sure to have plenty of ideas to help her embarrass Lelouch even more.

"Nunnally! I'm back!" came the sound of Lelouch's voice. Kallen quickly stood, she didn't want Lelouch to see her there. That, and the reunion between brother and sister was something that should be private. Too late though, she had only taken two steps when Lelouch entered the dining room.

"Onii-sama!"

"Nunnally!" Lelouch managed to gasp out when he saw what awaited him. The former prince's eyes were wide and he could barely stand right from the shock. "You…you can see."

"Yeah, I don't know what happened. Me and Kallen were talking and suddenly, when I tried to open my eyes, I could see. Isn't it wonderful?"

"Nunnally…"

The girl moved her chair over to her brother and when they got close, engulfed each other in hugs. Tears were falling down their faces, though for different reasons. Nunnally could now finally see her brother the way she was meant to, the way Lelouch wanted her to. Kallen stood there for a few minutes, watching, before she realized she was intruding on a private moment between the two. She quickly moved to leave but Lelouch heard her.

"Kallen? Was there something you wanted?"

"No. I'm sorry Lelouch, I'll be going now."

"Miss Kallen just came to return the clothes she borrowed yesterday. I already returned them to your room Master Lelouch."

"Thank-you Sayoko. I'll be busy tonight so could you please take care of Nunnally for me?"

"Of course Master Lelouch."

The two then left, leaving the two 'sisters' behind.

"It's hard to believe that Lelouch is doing all this just to create a better world for you."

"I wish he wouldn't do it, all I need to be happy is him. Though I guess it just shows how much my brother loves me."

"Don't I know it. Milly once told me that any girl who wants to date Lelouch has to accept you as they'll be sharing him with you."

"I'm willing to share Big Brother with you Kallen" Nunnally giggled.

"I know, but that's not all she said. She also said that they'd have to have your approval and be willing to help care for you as you are Lelouch's entire world."

"But one day that'll be you, won't it Kallen?" Nunnally asked with a sly smirk. "What's so funny?"

Kallen had been softly laughing for the past few seconds.

"Oh, I'm just remembering something funny that you reminded me of. Tell me Nunnally, do you remember Ashley Carlson?"

The girl thought for a moment. "You mean that girl that always mean to me and claimed that Lelouch was hers?"

"That's the one. When Milly was telling me this, we were walking around campus with Shirley. This was back when everyone thought that Lelouch and I were dating so I have no idea if Milly was talking to me or Shirley about it.

"Anyways, Ashley suddenly comes up and interrupts Milly and promptly tells us not to get any funny ideas because Lelouch was hers and nothing was going to stop her. That people like her and Lelouch belonged together while people like you and I didn't deserve to live because we were weak nothings that wouldn't amount to anything. She then went on a rant on how she was going to make Lelouch forget all about you."

"I don't see how that is very funny."

"The funny part is while she was busy ranting, she and her girls never noticed Lelouch standing right behind them while me, Shirley, and Milly struggled not to laugh out-loud as Lelouch heard every single word on how Ashley was going to seduce him."

"I don't imagine big brother was too happy about any of that."

"Oh he wasn't, and his revenge was excellent."

"Wait! You mean _he_ was responsible for that incident with all of the…"

"Oh, not only him. Milly was more than willing to help out after everything Ashley said about you. It was thanks to her we were able to find out what she was afraid of the most. As for me, well, let's just say that I take insults very seriously and what Lelouch had planned was ten times better than what I was planning anyways."

"But, that was terrible what happened to her."

"Trust me Nunnally, she deserved it for all those things she said about you. It's actually what got me sort-of interested in Lelouch in the first place as it reminded me of my brother."


	5. Chapter 5

**I know I just posted chapter 4 yesterday, but it was later than I wanted so you all get chapter 5 now. Also, there is a poll on my profile about C.C. joining the Ashford Student Council and I would very much like your opinion, thanks.**

* * *

'_You have to give Lelouch credit_, Kallen thought _he certainly create the right amount of theatrics when he needs to.'_

Kallen, Ohgi, and a few others who would soon be members of Zero's Black Knights were riding the monorail between the Tokyo Settlement and the ghettos just before Zero's appeared to them. Like before, Lelouch had given them his 'tour' of Tokyo before finally allowing them to meet him at the front.

When they arrived, Lelouch, dressed in his familiar Zero costume, turned around just as the train entered the tunnel, creating the perfect lighting for the first meeting of the Black Knights. When Kallen saw Zero, she felt a tug on her heart. The familiarity of Lelouch as Zero was like drinking water after days in the hot desert. It took all her willpower to not breakdown and cry or rush towards Lelouch and hug him.

"What do you think of my tour of the Settlement? I wanted you to fully grasp the two, the Settlement and the ghettos."

"Yeah, we know" Ohgi said stepping forward. "There's a difference between us and them, a harsh one. That's why we resist them."

"You're wrong; Britannia will not fall to terrorism. It's little better than childish nuisance."

"You got a better way? Kallen shouted at him. "Britannia controls almost one-third of the world."

"You should know your enemy. It is not the people of Britannia you must fight, but its ideals! Fight for the people, for justice!"

"That's easy enough for you to say, hiding behind that mask. Why don't you show us we can trust you, show us your face!"

"Very well, I show you. But instead of my face, how about I show you my power."

'_Interesting double meaning, Lelouch is going to show us both his Geass and tactical mind in one go. I just hope Jeremiah is ready for Zero this time around.'_

* * *

"So, are you ready?"

Kallen looked back at C.C., who was finishing a pizza on her bed.

"This is more than just Zero's first appearance, this also your first appearance with him. This is your first mission as Q-1."

"Actually, it's my second. I was given the name Q-1 during Shinjuku, so that's my first mission."

"I would call that a mission. In fact, Lelouch wasn't even Zero then so I don't know if it should count."

"If we want to get into technicalities, this could actually be my hundredth mission considering everything that we did last time."

"Well, that should make it easy for you then. You should be happy to know that I won't be here when you get back."

"Aw, and just when we were starting to be such good friends."

C.C. smirked at the sarcasm. "By the way, thank-you for the clothes Kallen. Even though Nunnally remembers everything and can see I'd rather not explain why I'm in a straightjacket when we first meet."

"Yeah, that would be a problem. Don't worry, Nunnally doesn't know you're coming but Sayoko does. However, she's out doing some work for us tonight so you have little Nunnally all to yourself. Just don't corrupt her too much, just for Lelouch."

"Well, that might be a problem considering how revealing these clothes are. I never thought you'd wear such things."

"I didn't get them myself. In fact I don't even like them, that's why I'm giving them to you. Well, that and messing with Lelouch is always fun."

"You're learning your majesty," C.C. said, using her new nickname for Kallen. It drove Kallen nuts. "I'll do my best to get pictures of his face, but I make no promises. Anyways, you'd better go. Lelouch wouldn't forgive you if you were late for this."

"Right, better go." Kallen grabbed her bad, which held her disguise, and rushed out the door. "Make sure you clean up after yourself" she called back, despite knowing that the immortal witch wouldn't, just to mess with her some more.

"Kallen, you going somewhere?"

Freezing at the front door, Kallen turned around to see her mother looking at her.

"Um, yeah. I didn't really feel like watch the whole Suzaku Kururugi thing tonight so I'm going to hang out with some friends."

"Oh? One of these friends wouldn't happen to be named Lelouch, would he?"

"How, how did you…"

"You talk in your sleep dear. Is he a nice boy?"

Kallen could answer. She was too mortified about her mother finding out about Lelouch. Last time it was easy as Lelouch was dead, but now?

"Well, please be careful. I just got you back and I don't want to lose you again."

"You won't Mother, I promise."

"Alright, then, go on. And do bring Lelouch around sometime. I'd love to meet the boy that captured my daughter's heart. I'm certain I could find a few of your old baby photos around here."

"Mother!" Kallen was having second thoughts about taking her mother off Refrain.

"Oh relax dear, I'll only show the less embarrassing ones. Now get out of here, you'll be late."

She didn't need to be told twice, as Ms. Kōzuki was muttering about what photos to show, just loud enough for her to hear. Right then and there Kallen promised herself to make sure none of the Student Council ever found out where she lived, especially Lelouch and Milly.

* * *

"Everything is prepared Margrave, all the remains is for you to show Kururugi."

"Right Diethard, we're thirty seconds away, stand by."

"Copy."

The radio clicked off and Margrave Jeremiah let loose a sigh. He had never really liked Diethard, even when they were working together, either with Britannia or with the Black Knights. His betrayal and attempted murder of Prince Lelouch only cemented the soldier's dislike for media man. However, he did have his uses and Jeremiah planned to use them to their full potential, just like his prince would.

Once again, Jeremiah was leading the procession that escorted Suzaku Kururugi to his court-martial. He was riding a top his Sutherland, easily viewable to all while Villetta acted as a rear guard in her Sutherland. Kewell and another squad of Sutherlands flew just above them as reinforcements. It was all going exactly the way I did last time, as per his plan.

"Margrave Jeremiah, there's a vehicle approaching the highway. We've let it through as you instructed but…"

Show time. "Do you believe the target could be a terrorist vehicle?"

"Sir, its Prince Clovis's car."

"I see, so we have a comedian. Don't worry about it, just let it through. All forces halt here!"

Everyone was confused as the military escort came to a stop. Via the radio, Jeremiah could here Kewell getting ready for action. A few seconds later, the junk car Lelouch and Kallen had disguised as Prince Clovis's personal car appeared, driving straight at them. Even from this distance Jeremiah could see Lady Kallen in the driver's seat, her usual hair style pointing her out.

"You dare desecrate his highness's personal transport? Come out of there!"

His prince wasn't the only one who could pull off extremely talented acts. Although his voice sounded furious, Jeremiah was actually excited to see his prince in the flesh again. Granted he would be disguised but that didn't matter.

A curtain on top of the car caught fire and quickly burned, exposing the man behind it. Zero had made his big debut.

"I am, Zero!"

The crowd around them was full of whispers, trying to figure out who Zero was. Even the announcer over the radio was firing off questions, trying to make it look like the whole thing was staged.

"I've seen enough 'Zero'; this little show of yours is over. Kewell!"

Kewell's forces dropped from their VTOL craft and surrounded the car, guns ready. Although it was difficult to see as she had pulled her cap low, Kallen didn't look too concerned. And neither did Zero, it was impossible to tell with his mask on but Jeremiah knew the truth.

"First things first" Jeremiah continued, keeping up the act, "why don't you lose that mask."

Zero reached up to his mask, acting like he was going to remove it, but then quickly snapped his fingers. The large compartment behind him fell apart, exposing C.C.'s capsule made to look like a gas container. Jeremiah could help but smirk at Lelouch's genius as behind him Villetta yelled to be careful. Raising his gun, Jeremiah took careful aim.

"You intend to shoot me? I think you know full well what'll happen if you miss."

As if to emphasize his point, the wind on the bridge picked up. As good as a marksmen Jeremiah thought he was, even he was smart enough to know that at this distance, with the wind blowing like it was, hitting Zero even if he wanted to would very difficult.

"Fine, what are your demands?"

"An exchange, this for Kururugi."

"Like hell!" Jeremiah shouted back, even though he really wanted to get rid of the boy. "He's charged with high treason for murdering a prince, I can't hand him over."

"No, you're mistaken Jeremiah Gottwald, he's no murderer. The one who killed Prince Clovis, was myself!"

Things just kept working for Zero. As he finished his little speech, he looked directly at the camera Diethard personally brought out. With his 'face' directly focused upon, Zero's announcement was perfect.

"For a single Eleven, you'll save scores of 'precious' Britannians. I find that to be a bargain!"

The crowd, who had been completely shocked at Zero's revelation, were now starting to realize exactly what was in the capsule behind Zero. Many of them started to pain but couldn't run away. They were either trapped by the crowd or by their curiosity as to what would happen next. Nobody would leave until Zero decided they could.

"He's mad I tell you! All forces, get ready to teach this terrorist the price for mocking the crown!"

Four Knightmare rifles were raised, ready to fire on Jeremiah's command, but Zero had one last trick up his sleeve.

"Careful, you don't wish the public to learn of 'Orange', do you?"

Jeremiah smirked. There it was, the code word he was looking for.

"How did you…?"

The car drove closer to the military convoy and just between the two Sutherlands in front of it. The public and military were confused as to what Orange was. Just in case there were any cameras focused on him, Jeremiah adopted a look of horror.

"If I die, it'll all be made public. If you don't want that to happen, you'll do everything in your power to let us go, your prisoner too."

Jeremiah could feel the effects of Lelouch's Geass on him. Like Kallen said, it was a blissful feeling, one that made you want to float away. But also like Kallen said, Jeremiah was able to fight against it and retain control, but it would still use the Geass to his benefit.

"Right, understood. You there, release the prisoner!"

"Lord Jeremiah, what are you doing?"

"Hand him over, now!"

"What are thinking, you can't do this!"

"Lord Kewell, this is an order! Let Kururugi and Zero go!"

Jeremiah watched as the soldiers guarding Kururugi released the cuffs on his arms and let him down from the armored transport. Amongst the crowds' loud protests, he walked over to Zero and Kallen. The conversed quietly for a couple seconds before Zero raised a remote trigger and pressed the button. The capsule let out a cloud of smoke and the spell on the crowd was broken as they all ran screaming.

"Cowardly Eleven!" Villetta shouted as she prepared to fire. Jeremiah could risk either Lelouch or Kallen getting hit and quickly knocked her rifle away.

"Jeremiah, what on Earth are you doing?"

"You heard me, stand down now!"

In the confusion, Jeremiah lost sight of the trio. Thankfully Kewell was watching and pointed them out with his rifle. Firing a quick burst, he damaged the train that was carrying the group. Using his slash harkens to hold onto the bridge, Jeremiah jumped over and pointed his own rifle at Kewell.

"Lord Kewell, are you going to follow your orders or not! All forces, for the last time, let Zero and Kururugi go! Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, my lord!" a few soldier shouted back, the rest unable to believe what had just happened. Soon, the train came alive and rolled away and escaped. Zero had just pulled off his first miracle with a little help from Jeremiah 'Orange' Gottwald. Unfortunately, many Britannians weren't too happy about that.

"Jeremiah Gottwald!" Kewell Soresi shouted as soon as they got back to base. "What were you thinking letting them go?"

"Careful Kewell, you're already in enough trouble as it is."

"What are you talking about?"

"I warned you of what would happen should the real killer of Prince Clovis appear and then you go and disobey a direct order. You don't need the third strike of insubordination against you."

That was enough for Kewell to back off a bit, but not the rest of the Purist Faction.

"Jeremiah, I have to agree with Lord Kewell. That order you gave to let Zero go was highly unusual, what was that about?"

"I couldn't let the public learn about Orange Villetta."

"Orange?"

Jeremiah sighed and prepared to tell the lie he had made up.

"Orange is a top secret project my prince recruited me for before he died. It is very important and should the public learn about it, it would devastate Britannia."

Of course, the Purists had no way of knowing that the prince Jeremiah was talking about was actually Prince Lelouch vi Britannia and not Clovis, nor that Orange was actually the new code name for the Zero Requiem and Kallen's efforts to fix everything.

"Now, if you'll excuse me I have to go call me superiors. Nearly everyone who knew about Orange died at Shinjuku. That means we must have a rat within our organization who leaked the information to Zero. Due to this fiasco I'll probably need to step down as Interim Viceroy though. You're all dismissed."

Jeremiah then walked away, leaving the Purists to talk amongst themselves.

"He's lying, I know he is."

"I don't know Kewell, it makes sense to me. Why else would he let them go?"

"I don't know, but I intend to find out. We can't let this disgrace last or the Purebloods will forever be stained by this failure."

* * *

Nunnally watched the appearance of Zero with Milly, Shirley, Rivalz, and Nina in the Student Council room. Last time Zero made his first appearance she had listened to the radio from her and Lelouch's apartment in the clubhouse. Although she had known that Zero would appear and rescue Suzaku, she had still be shocked at what her brother had done.

The way Zero spoke, his gestures, they were flawless, like a professional actor's. It completely captivated his audience, both live and to the thousands watching in Area Eleven and beyond. And the way he gave his commands, it was no wonder so many had joined the Black Knights in the past. It was hard to believe that was really Lelouch, he acted so different.

Then again, last time Nunnally had only heard a bit about Zero as Sayoko and Lelouch hadn't wanted her to listen. But now, just seeing what Zero could do put things in a completely different perspective then just listening did.

Nunnally had grown used to Suzaku as Zero. While not completely confident, his actions worked and his physical prowess set him apart. But Lelouch was so much more. Looking closely, Nunnally could see her brother in Zero. Every move, word, and action was carefully planned out, just like Lelouch's style. She now understood how Kallen had fallen in love with Zero.

After Zero's escape, Nunnally returned to the dining room to think. Both Sayoko and Kallen had told her to just act like normal while they took care of everything. Nunnally accepted as she knew that there was very little she could do but it still bothered her. There had to be more she could do to help her brother besides provide his motivation. The sound of the door opening took her out of her thoughts.

"Miss Sayoko?" Nunnally asked, as she turned her wheelchair around. Instead of the loyal maid she had been expecting, there was a green-haired girl wearing a short black skirt, red tank top that showed off her stomach, and knee high boots.

"Who, who are you?" Nunnally asked at little fearfully.

The girl smiled and said, "Oh Nunnally, you don't remember me?"

The voice was a little familiar and it took Nunnally a while to place it.

"Miss C.C.?"

"Hello your highness" the girl, C.C., said with a short bow. "It is good to see you again, and for you to see me."

"Yes, it is good to see you Miss C.C. I should've expected you to show up. I'm sorry but I completely forget about it."

"That's alright Nunnally, I didn't know whether to show up or not. But then I decided that I needed to stay close to Lelouch, so here I am. I did change clothes a bit from last time though. I thought I'd dress to impress."

C.C. did a little spin and Nunnally giggled.

"Me, or Lelouch" she asked, even though she probably knew the answer.

"Oh, I don't know, I suppose Lelouch's wife would have to impress you to begin with. And I'm sure this outfit shows exactly what I can offer."

Nunnally had no way to respond to this comment and so didn't say anything.

"Come on Nunnally, let's go into the kitchen and make some origami. You did promise to show me."

"Oh, that's right. I'm sorry I can't offer you anything to eat as I'm sure you're hungry."

"No, it's alright. Kallen was kind enough to provide me with a pizza before she left. I'll just make us some tea."

"C.C., are you going to attend Ashford? It would be a lot of fun to have you on the Student Council."

"Maybe, I'll think about it. Me and Suzaku aren't really on the best of terms right now, though I guess Lelouch could take care of it. I hear that this Milly girl loves to mess with Lelouch so I guess that would be fun. Maybe we can even get Kallen to join in, I'm sure she would. Hmm, maybe I will. But for now we can discuss how we're going to mess with your brother when he gets home. I rather liked pretending to be his fiancé though I'm sure you can come up with something a little better."

The two laughed and began plotting the embarrassment Zero.


	6. Chapter 6

An exhausted Lelouch Lamperouge walked through the front door of his home. He had just returned from his rescue of Suzaku Kururugi from the Britannian Military for the murder of Prince Clovis. Of course, Lelouch was dressed as the masked terrorist Zero to hide his identity. His plan had worked perfectly and Suzaku had been rescued by only three people, performing a miracle for the Eleven populous. Unfortunately, that miracle had been partly ruined because of one unforeseen complication.

'_That bloody fool'_ Lelouch thought. Suzaku had ruined his plans before they could even begin. The rescue of Suzaku would show everyone, Britannian and Eleven, that Zero wasn't just another terrorist. He could get things done and in big ways. Shinjuku had provided a clue but Suzaku's rescue was the finishing touch.

Of course, there was more than just the appearance of Zero that Lelouch had planned for tonight. He had planned for Suzaku to be so grateful that he'd join in his rebellion. Despite being an Honorary Britannian, Suzaku Kururugi was looked up to by many of the Elevens simply because his father was Genbu Kururugi, the last Prime Minister of Japan. If Suzaku supported Zero, then the Elevens would be behind him as well. With Suzaku, maybe even the Japan Liberation Front would recognize Zero.

And finally, Lelouch knew that at some time he couldn't return to being Lelouch Lamperouge and had to stay as Zero for a while. When that happened, he needed someone he could trust to take care of Nunnally for him. Who better than someone Nunnally also trusted, Suzaku.

But the fool had to go and ruin his plans by refusing to join forces and then left to return to the Britannians for his court martial, where he would no doubt be executed. Even if he wasn't, the support he expected wouldn't come or would be much less. That, and by returning, Suzaku had lessened the effect of Zero's rescue of him. Yes, Suzaku had ruined Lelouch's plans completely.

Well, it wasn't like everything was now ruined. He could still start his rebellion, he had a little support. And with his Geass he could still speed up his timetable by quite a bit. But those were things he could worry about latter, right now it was time for Nunnally.

"I'm back Nunnally" Lelouch called through the kitchen door as it opened. He was so tired he couldn't even look up to greet his sister. But something, or rather someone, changed that.

"Welcome home, Lelouch."

'_That voice!'_ Looking up, Lelouch nearly had a heart attack. Seated next to his sweet, innocent little sister was the green-haired girl from Shinjuku. And she was dressed in one of the most revealing outfits Lelouch had ever seen. They were folding paper cranes, as if nothing was wrong.

"I'm so glad Lelouch, I was worried about you."

"Judging from your appearance I guess you ate out tonight" the girl-haired girl said. She sounded a little upset. "I can't believe you forgot out date."

"Date?"

"Yes."

"Miss C.C. came looking for you big brother when you stood her up. I tried calling you earlier but you wouldn't answer. I was afraid that you had gotten caught up in the uproar that man Zero caused."

"I, uh…"

"That's quite rude of you Lelouch, standing a girl up, especially since she's your fiancée."

"Fiancée?" Lelouch almost shouted out in shock.

"Why didn't you tell me you were engaged Lelouch, I'm so happy. Especially since I'm going to be an aunt soon."

"Aunt?" Lelouch was hyperventilating now.

"It's a little disappointing that you got a girl pregnant so early, but at least you're fixing your mistake."

"Careful Nunnally" the girl, C.C., said placing a hand on her stomach. "You wouldn't want to call your new niece or nephew a mistake, now would you?"

"Oh! No, I wouldn't. I'm sorry, please forgive me little one." Nunnally called to C.C.'s stomach.

"You're forgiven" C.C. said, rubbing her belly. The two girls then giggled out loud.

Lelouch couldn't take it anymore. What was this, witch, doing telling his sweet Nunnally such lies? And wearing such clothes, she was going to pervert his little sister at this rate. Carefully, Lelouch stepped forward, next to C.C. and started to speak.

"I'm sorry C.C., I forgot. I thought our date was scheduled for, oops."

Lelouch then 'accidently' knocked over C.C.'s cup of tea, spilling it all over her.

"Oh how clumsy of me." He then grasped C.C.'s arm tightly and dragged her out of the kitchen. "Come on C.C., let's get those clothes washed before the stain sets in. Nunnally, stay here. I'll come back to clean that up. And she was kidding before, kidding, just a dumb joke."

He dragged C.C. to his bedroom and once the light was on and door closed, released her. His voice then changed from the polite one he used around his sister to a demanding one.

"Who are you?"

The girl just smirked, like the whole thing was a joke to her.

"Your sister said my name, I'm C.C."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know."

"Then why are you here?"

"I came to pervert the mind of the little sister of Lelouch vi Britannia."

Lelouch froze. "How did you…"

"You don't need to worry, I won't tell anyone. And you can relax, Nunnally knew the whole time I was lying. Saying I was pregnant was even her idea."

"Why you…"

"So, do you like the power I gave you?"

Lelouch could feel his Geass activating as she said this, so his suspicions were confirmed.

"As I thought, it was you. Aren't you supposed to be-"

"Dead? Maybe" C.C. said in a teasing way. She was trying to rile him up and unfortunately, it was working. However, she didn't need to know that.

"Are you satisfied?"

"Immensely, it allows me to speed up my schedule greatly."

"For destroying Britannia? Do you really think that power will allow you to do that?"

"I had planned on doing it without this power, but now, why wait?"

C.C. just smiled and collapsed on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"What will you do now, I'm sure the military is out looking for you."

"Oh, not the whole military, just a small faction of it. This place would make an excellent hiding place."

And with that, C.C. starting stripping. She quickly took her tank top off, leaving her bare from the waist up and causing Lelouch to blush lightly as he turned around. C.C. just smirked, sometimes it was too easy.

"What are you doing, you can't stay here."

Lelouch turned around to see the clothes C.C. was wearing laying on the floor and the girl herself on the bed with the covers pulled to her mouth, making her look like a sick little girl.

"A gentlemen would sleep on the floor," she said simply, "Especially since those are the only clothes I brought with me."

Lelouch just scowled and stormed out of the room. As soon as she was sure he was gone, C.C. relaxed and lowered the covers a bit. She watched the door her accomplice had left through and sighed. That had not only been fun, but also extremely difficult.

Kallen wasn't the only one to suffer heartbreak after Lelouch's death but unlike the red-haired pilot, she had been able to speak with Lelouch from C's World whenever she wanted. It had comforted her a little to be able to do that. In fact, during one of their many conversations, Lelouch had given her the idea of traveling back through time.

Of course, when he found out what she was planning he did his best to stop her, not like he was able to. He was even more against it when she decided to bring Kallen into the picture. But it was all worth it to have her demon back again. She would have to be patient but soon she would be able to hold him again the way she liked, to smell his scent, and feel his lips on hers.

Yes, Cera loved Lelouch, just like Kallen did. And like Kallen, she had no plans to let him go this time around. This time, she would finally relieve herself of her annoying Code and be able to die, but with Lelouch by her side. Maybe they would even have a few kids before they left for C's World together. With a smile, C.C. drifted off, dreaming of a possible future with her only true love.

* * *

"Case Number 107; Private Suzaku Kururugi, Area Eleven Military Forces. In the murder of his highness, Prince Clovis, you are no longer a suspect and are hereby set free due to lack of evidence."

The judge banged his gavel and that was it. The courtroom, which was mostly empty except for the judge, a couple of security officers, and a confused Honorary Britannian was quickly emptied. After standing frozen for a few seconds after the judge's ruling, one of the officers physically removed Suzaku from the courtroom.

"What happened?" he asked himself out loud. His court martial had been scheduled for that morning, but when he arrived, neither his defense lawyer, not that he had one, nor the prosecution was there. Instead, the judge just called his case number and it was over.

While he was pleased about not being found guilty or executed for a crime he didn't commit, Suzaku was left wondering about the Britannian court system. Just how was it able to do that. He knew that the Purebloods had focused a lot of time and money into his trial to find him guilty but now, to just let him go. Someone high up must have done something, but who, and why?

"Out of the way please!" a voice shouted.

It took Suzaku about a second to realize that the voice came from a girl above him, and even less time to see that she was falling from a good height. Quickly dropping his bag, Suzaku got into position to catch her before she hit the ground and injured herself.

"Look out below!" the girl shouted just before she landed safely in Suzaku's arms. She was very light so it wasn't too hard for Suzaku to catch her. As soon as he was sure she was safe, he carefully let her down.

"Are you alright?" he asked, while also getting a better look at her. She had long, bright pink hair and very beautiful violet eyes. _'Those eyes, why do I feel like I've seen her before?'_

"I'm sorry" the girl said hurriedly, "I wasn't aware anyone was down here until I had leaped!"

"Well, don't worry. I wasn't expecting a girl to come falling out of the sky and into my arms anyway."

But the girl wasn't listening.

"Oh my." She muttered; one look at his face and she knew exactly who he was. _'He's the one who was accused of murdering my brother!'_ Of all the people to be caught by, she was caught by Suzaku Kururugi.

"Huh, is something wrong?" Suzaku asked. If the girl was injured he needed to get her to a doctor right away, otherwise he might be charged with assault next.

'_This may be exactly what I need'_ the Third Princess thought.

"Yes, there is something wrong. The truth is, bad guys are chasing me, so considering the circumstances, could you help me please?"

Suzaku looked up to where the girl had jumped from and saw an open window with one of the curtains hanging from it like a rope. Something seemed off about the girl's story but he wasn't about to refuse her. She was a Britannian citizen after all and he was just an Honorary Britannian. That, and she had such a cute face when she was pleading with him he couldn't say no.

The unusual pair quickly walked to a nearby plaza. Suzaku kept looking over his shoulder, watching for whoever was chasing the girl while she just looked around in wonder. Although his vision wasn't the best because of the sunglasses he was wearing as a disguise, so far no one appeared to be following them, discreetly or not.

"We haven't introduced ourselves, have we?" the girl asked as she turned back to Suzaku. "My name is…" she paused and turned away, as if trying to come up with a good one. That was the final clue for Suzaku.

Euphemia le Britannia racked her brain for a good cover name for herself, she could tell that Suzaku was already suspicious of her. She couldn't use her real name as the soldier would obvious recognize that, but she didn't want to use too random a name or she might forget she gave herself it. Finally, the nickname Lelouch and Cornelia gave her popped into her head. Hardly anyone ever used it so Suzaku wouldn't know it and it was technically her name.

"Euphie!" she replied happily.

"Euphie?"

"Yes, Euphie."

Suzaku smiled and started to pull off his sunglasses to properly introduce himself.

"My name is…"

"Don't tell me" Euphie stopped him. "Cause I already know it, you're a celebrity. Son of Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi, Private Suzaku Kururugi."

With their names out of the way, Suzaku decided to take care of one last thing. He quickly swept the surrounding area. Just like he thought, there was no one.

"You lied before" he said, his back to Euphie. "There's no one chasing you at all, right?"

He turned back around to get an answer, but she was gone. Wondering where she went, Suzaku took another quick look around and saw her a couple feet away, talking to a cat with an injured paw.

"Meow, meow. Aw, does the kitty's paw hurt? Oh!" The cat apparently didn't like Euphie talking to it and hissed at her, but the pinkette wasn't giving up.

"Meow, meow, meow." She then reached out to pet the cat, which quickly changed its mind and allowed her to pet it. It seemed to enjoy the attention. "Meow, meow."

Euphie then picked the cat up, which purred loudly. Suzaku walked over, interested in the conversation between girl and cat. Euphie held the cat out for Suzaku to pet. Chuckling, Suzaku reached out to do just that, but the cat apparently didn't like him the same way it liked Euphie. It quickly opened its mouth and bit down on Suzaku's fingers, hard.

"Oh my!" a worried Euphie said.

The cat was very stubborn and didn't seem to want to let Suzaku go, but after a bit of tugging, he finally managed to get his finger free.

"Are you O.K. Suzaku?' Euphie asked, softly petting the cat.

"Yeah," Suzaku replied, showing off his finger. "See, no blood."

"We should probably bandage your finger, just in case. And while we're at it, we should also fix this little guy's paw."

The cat seemed to like the idea as he settled into Euphie's arms contently and purred. "Aw, so cute."

The pair and cat started walking again. Suzaku knew where a nearby store was where he could purchase bandages for himself and the cat. During the walk, the girl and cat continued their little conversation from earlier.

"Meow, meow, meow."

"Say, Euphie" Suzaku asked as he watch the two, "how do you think that cat got hurt anyway?"

"He says he had a bad landing, right Arthur?" she responded, turning back to the cat with the last two words.

"Arthur?"

"Uh huh, that's his name."

That meowed as if to say Euphie was right. Suzaku had a difficult time holding in his laughter of the cat telling Euphie its name but somehow managed to hold it.

"Did he introduce himself?"

"No." she said simply. "But his name's Arthur all the same." She said that last part like she knew he was laughing on the inside but it didn't matter to her. The two were so wrapped up in their little conversation, Suzaku didn't even notice when he passed by the transport for the Lancelot Knightmare Frame, waiting for him exactly where Lloyd and Cecile said they would be waiting for him.

When they reached the store, Suzaku quickly bought the bandages and joined Euphie and Arthur on some nearby steps. There, he watch as she carefully fixed and bandaged Arthur's leg. The cat just sat there patiently, waiting for her to finish.

"Do you have trouble with cats?" Euphie asked as she finished tying the bandage on.

"I like them just fine." Suzaku said. He reach out to try and pet Arthur again but the cat showed his displeasure by hissing at him. "However, the attraction isn't mutual."

"I think unrequited love is the mark of a kind person."

As if sensing that they were finished with him, Arthur stood up and quickly bounced away down the street.

"Oh, the kitty ran away" Euphie said sadly.

Suzaku followed the cat with his eyes, hoping for Euphie's sake that it wouldn't get hurt out there. Once it bounded around a corner, he decided to ask the question that had been plaguing him for the past couple of minutes.

"Euphie, why did you tell me that lie when we met?"

"Do you ask because you're concerned about me?"

"Huh?" Suzaku asked, confused. "Of course."

"Good." Euphie then stood and grabbed Suzaku's arm and started dragging him. "Then you can accompany me some more. Come on, it'll be fun!"

Unable to protest, Suzaku allowed Euphie to drag him around the concession. First off was a couple of shops were they window shopped a bit. Euphie expressed interest a few of the outfits displayed and imagined herself wearing them, sometimes with a little input from Suzaku. When she mentioned that she was getting hungry, Suzaku showed her to a few stores that sold local cuisine. Suzaku enjoyed it greatly and Euphie bravely decided to try some, unlike her older sister, and found that much of it was quite good.

After eating, they continued their little tour and explored as much of the Settlement as they could. Euphie seemed to enjoy herself and that made Suzaku pleased. For some reason, he just wanted this strange girl to always be happy and he had a feeling that if she was happy, then he would be as well. The only downside to their tour was when a news broadcast talking about Zero and his rescue of Suzaku appeared on a public news-screen. Euphie looked so downcast that Suzaku promised himself that he would make the rest of the trip even more enjoyable for her.

"You know," Euphie said as they walked, "being here is just like being in Britannia. I feel right at home."

"Are you from the Homeland?"

"Yeah, I was a student there up until last week."

"Last week? So, what are you doing now? By student you mean high school right? You can go sightseeing anytime can't you?"

Euphie giggled. "You ask a lot of questions Suzaku."

"Oh, sorry." he said embarrassed.

"Oh! No, I didn't mean it like that. You see, today is the last day of my vacation and I wanted to see as much of Area Eleven as I could because I'd like to know what kinda' place it is."

"Well, you didn't need me for that."

"No, I'm glad I could see it with you."

"Is that right?"

Suzaku turned his head so that he didn't have to look at Euphie's face. The truth was, he was starting to feel the same way. In fact, he wanted to spend as much time with Euphie as he could. If he wasn't an Honorary Britannian or if she was an Eleven, he'd probably ask her out. But they had their respective positions, so he couldn't.

And, from what he learned about her, she was probably a nobleman's daughter as she acted a bit like Lelouch and Nunnally when they had stayed with them before the invasion. If an Honorary Britannian asking a common-born Britannian out was impossible, then what chance was there of him asking out a noble-girl? It was probably best to just enjoy what time they could spend together.

"Suzaku?" Euphie asked, pulling him out of his thoughts, "could you take me to one more place please."

Suzaku dropped his bag and turned around to give a mock bow. "Your wish is my command mi-lady, where to?"

The answer was not what he was expecting. "Take me to Shinjuku."

Suzaku gasped and looked up to see a different Euphie. Standing as straight as she could, Euphie attempted to adopt the same commanding presence Cornelia had when she was ordering her troops.

"Suzaku Kururugi, please escort me there."


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey everyone! Surprise to me, the mountains of homework I was expecting to work on all this week, the weekend, and next week turned out to be mostly done by tonight. So, I am able to upload another chapter for you all sooner than I expected. The next chapter is also finish but don't expect that one for awhile as I am expecting another large amounts of homework this week. It may also be the last chapter I post until mid December as class projects are starting to pick up around here. So, enjoy!**

* * *

"We must get rid of this 'Orange' character before Princess Cornelia assumes her new post!"

Lord Kewell Sorsei stood in front of half a dozen Pureblood officers. They weren't much but they were all he could scrape together. He currently was discussing his plan to remove Jeremiah Gottwald from power as head of the Purebloods. Officially it was because he allowed Zero and Private Suzaku Kururugi to escape. Unofficially, Kewell felt that it was time new leadership assumed command.

"Right now, thanks to Lord Jeremiah, the loyalty of us Purebloods is being called into question." said Kewell's right-hand man.

"I don't know…" one of the other officers stated. "Lord Jeremiah gave a pretty good excuse for letting the terrorists go. And I heard rumors that you're to face a court martial Lord Kewell."

"Those are rumors only, there isn't any basis in that. And if you're referring to that 'Project Orange' Jeremiah mentioned, don't believe it. Me and Villetta weren't let in on it, and we all know how close Villetta and Jeremiah are. Besides, Bartley never mentioned it, neither did any of the other generals that served under Prince Clovis."

"But, isn't that the point of a secret project."

"Oh please, those idiots could never keep their mouths shut. I'm sure everyone here heard all about their 'secret Code-R' gas project. And if you haven't, I'm sure Shinjuku can ring a few bells for you. No, Jeremiah is definitely hiding something and whatever it is isn't for the good of Britannia, I can feel it."

"Make your decision now because we don't have much time remaining. Princess Cornelia arrives tonight and we'll lose our only chance. You can either side against us and risk demotion and/or a court martial for failing to side with us, or you can join us and get promoted once Lord Kewell assumes command. I'm sure the Princess would reward you as well for removing the stain that allowed Zero to escape."

"I, uh, I…"

"Tick-tock, the offer expires in five minutes."

"O.K., O.K., I'll join you guys."

"Good thinking. We're already prepared an ambush sight in Shinjuku, here are the coordinates. Make sure Jeremiah gets there alone and we'll take care of the rest."

"Yes, Lord Kewell."

With that, Kewell and his other officers left the briefing room. Kewell smirked. For too long had he served under that fool Jeremiah Gottwald. This coup had been in the works for months now but Zero had given him the perfect excuse. Convincing some of the other officers had been harder than he thought, but most were now on his side. Some of them might say that he was doing this to get back the respect he lost due to Zero showing up, but never to his face. In Kewell's mind, Jeremiah Gottwald was the sole reason the Purebloods were starting their downfall and it was his job to try and fix it.

* * *

"Right, understood. I'll set everything up for then. Please be careful Jeremiah, you're too useful to Lelouch to die on us now."

Kallen closed her phone and continued her walk across the Ashford campus. Jeremiah had just called to inform her that the previous Pureblood revolution would be taking place. While he said it was unfortunate that many of his old friends and comrades had to lose everything, it was necessary to further Lelouch's goals. With the Purebloods gone, Jeremiah would be able to act more freely and accomplish the missions he had planned out.

As she walked, Kallen reflected on some of the changes to this time. Jeremiah's cover story had saved his reputation, and he was still a valuable member of the Britannian military. Now he could gain access to some of their plans and use advanced Knightmares to complete their special missions for Orange.

Unfortunately, Jeremiah's cover had also saved the Purists from the majority of the shame they had last time. Jeremiah had still stepped down and Vice-Minister Cornwell had assumed control of Area Eleven. Thankfully, Cornwell had ties to the NAC, or Kyoto. In exchange for a little extra wealth from the sakuradite mining, Cornwell allowed Kyoto quite a bit of room. This allowed Kyoto to fund the resistance movements without the Britannians finding out. For once, Kallen was actually thankful for the corruption in the Britannian government.

Right now, Jeremiah was headed for the ambush that would determine how the rest of the game went. If he succeeded, he would join her and Sayoko at the meeting C.C. had called for dealing with their hidden enemies. If he failed, Jeremiah would most likely be dead. It was a dangerous risk, but a necessary one for Orange and the Zero Requiem.

Right now, Kallen had her own mission to accomplish. Granted it wasn't as important to the Zero Requiem as Jeremiah's mission was, but to her, it was very important. Of course, finding Lelouch was easier said than done as he knew how to hide himself quite well, but eventually, she found him.

"Lelouch," she said, adopting her sickly Kallen Stadtfeld persona, "do you have a minute?"

C.C. had asked her to do this personally, though why she didn't know.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"About that phone call the other day…"

"Phone call?"

"Yeah. When you and I were in the bathroom" She said with a light blush, remembering the incident. "Could you please not mention it to Milly or the others. I heard about what the President is like and I'd rather keep my private life, well, you know, private."

"Right, well I guess I can do that, but you should know that Milly has a real nose for such things. She's going to find out one way or another and drag it out into the op-"

Lelouch froze in mid-sentence, his eyes wide as he stared at something behind her in horror.

"Huh?"

Kallen turned around to see what he was looking at. All she got was a quick look of C.C. dressed in Lelouch's clothes giving her a wave before Lelouch grabbed her and pulled her face around so that she couldn't move.

While their faces were just inches apart, to anyone else, it looked as if Lelouch was kissing her. The effect was not lost on Kallen and she struggled greatly to keep the giant blush that was threatening to show down. Inside Kallen, a three-way battle was waging. The Kallen Kōzuki side of her wanted to punch, slap, knee, or stab Lelouch, or all at once. The Kallen Stadtfeld side of her wanted to let the blush out like a schoolgirl having her first crush. The Q-1 side of her wanted to close the gap between their lips and kiss him like she did before the UFN meeting.

Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you viewed it, none of those things happened. It took a few seconds but Kallen finally managed to get the words out.

"Excuse me, Lelouch, could you let go of my face please."

As if suddenly realizing what it might have looked like to anyone else, Lelouch let go so fast it was like he was electrocuted. It almost broke Kallen's heart.

"What was that about?"

"Ah, what indeed." Lelouch said, a small hint of a blush on his own face. The question seemed more posed to himself than Kallen and before she could say anything else, he ran off, following a hint of green hair behind a building. Kallen just stared after him and raised a hand to her lips.

She had nearly kissed him! Actually, he had nearly kissed her but that didn't matter. They had nearly kissed! Kallen didn't know how much more she could take it, just being back around him was hard enough, but now add this. She desperately wished she could use her Geass on him to make him remember, then should wouldn't have to torture herself so much.

Hidden from Kallen's view, a blonde haired president nearly laughed out loud at what a glorious photo she had just gotten. Earlier, Nunnally had asked to follow Lelouch around the campus, hidden, and take pictures of him and Kallen as the wheelchair using girl thought that there was something going on between them. Now she had proof, and just maybe some excellent blackmail material too.

* * *

Shinjuku was a wasteland. It reminded Suzaku of the village he, Lelouch, and Nunnally passed through not long after the invasion began. The only difference was the lack of countless numbers of bodies. But right now, that village held more life then than Shinjuku did now.

After a few minutes of arguing and Euphie's stubborn statement that she would go with or without Suzaku, the pair had finally arrived. He didn't know why Euphie wanted to see this place but looking at it now, Suzaku realized that he needed to see it for himself.

"The Shinjuku Ghetto, ruined again. The residences were just starting to return too." Suzaku said, referring to the Britannian invasion.

Posters asking about missing loved ones covered a crumbling wall a few feet away. Graves made of stone, stick, anything the Elevens could use, stood in a field. Many were unmarked, showing that the owners weren't identified. Either their families' were dead as well, or were unable to identify them. A few were personalized, which meant that at least some people had managed to survive and were remembering the fallen.

The whole thing made Suzaku sick. All that unnecessary death, just because a few people didn't want to try and make the system work. No, they had to resort to terrorism and this was the result. The wind picked up and carried with it the voice of two Britannians.

"Man, they didn't use RG on the Elevens. I figured they wouldn't."

"Hey, those are marks from hummer rounds! Get a clear shot of it."

While Suzaku didn't approve of Elevens fighting Britannia, neither did he like to see his peoples' suffering as the amusement for a bunch of stuck-up Britannians. However, he knew that he was an Honorary Britannian and that he could do nothing to stop them. It all just made his resolve stronger. Beside him, Euphie was having similar thoughts. Unfortunately, not everyone shared their thoughts.

A trio of Elevens decided that they had to punish the students for their tourism into the ghettos. One of them, a loud-mouthed man with reddish-brown hair ran right up to them and knocked a camera out of one of the student's hands.

"Get outta here you Britannian bastards!"

The students seemed too scared to do anything and Suzaku knew how this would end. Not willing to let more unnecessary blood be shed, Suzaku dropped his bags and spoke clearly to Euphie.

"Stay here!" He then ran up to where the fighting was about to begin.

"How dare a lowly Eleven speak to us like…"

"Don't call me an Eleven!" the loud-mouth shouted. "I'm Japanese!"

"Wrong," said the other student, "you seem to forget you people lost. You're nothing but a beaten dog."

"You racist pig!" the man shouted back, ignoring his own hypocrisy.

"Stop, please, no violence!" Suzaku ran up the hill and tried to grab the loud-mouth.

"Stay outta this!" he shouted back, taking a swipe. He only succeeded in knocking Suzaku's sunglasses off, exposing his face. "You…are you, Suzaku Kururugi?"

"The guy who killed Clovis?"

"No you idiot, Zero's the one who killed him."

Suzaku look away, even his own people didn't trust him. But the loud-mouth wasn't finished.

"Tsk, this guy's nothing more than a slave. Big deal, you're an Honorary Britannian. Nobody cares. You sold your pride, your people, your soul, and yet you call yourself Japanese!"

"No, you're wrong…"

"I am NOT wrong you stinking Britannian lap dog!"

The man moved to punch Suzaku but he was ready. Using the training given to him by Tohdoh and the Britannian military, Suzaku planted his feet, grabbed the man's outstretched wrist, and gripped the collar of his shirt. Using the man's own forward momentum, Suzaku flipped him over and onto his back in half a second, shocking the other Elevens and the Britannians. However, that single move wasn't enough for the man as he quickly stood up and got ready to fight again.

"Stop please. I warn you, I've been trained in military combat, don't make me fight my own people."

"Like Hell we're _you're_ people!"

"Come on Tamaki," one of the other Elevens said, "just let it go."

He and the third Eleven began walking away. The loud-mouth grunted, but without the backup of his buddies, reluctantly left, but not before muttering 'lousy traitor' just loud enough for Suzaku to hear.

"Suzaku?" Euphie asked, appearing with hi bad, "Are you O.K.?"

"Yeah."

"Well I'm not O.K." the student with the camera wined. "Just look at my Prime G, and my LX4."

"Why did you wait?" his friend shouted. "Damn it, some Honorary citizen you are."

"Why'd you let 'em go, you should've killed them. What's a few dead Elevens to a guy like you? Who do you think's taken care of you all these years anyway?"

Euphie, having enough, marched right up to the student and did something that surprised Suzaku and both the students, she slapped him. Stunned, the student dropped his camera, breaking it further.

"I will not allow you to insult this man any further you oaf!" Euphie shouted back, using her 'princess' voice. She didn't care what anyone thought or if Suzaku fought out who she was, no one would insult him while she was around. She was starting to grow fond of him.

The three boys stared at her for several seconds. The one with the camera looked like he wanted to confront her about his now useless camera, but a sudden explosion nearby caught all four of their attentions.

* * *

Jeremiah Gottwald growled within the cockpit of his Knightmare. He had prepared for this fight for a while now. He had reviewed Kewell's and his men's fighting strategies, make sure his Knightmare was in peak condition, packed an extra energy filler, ammunition around, and even a Knightmare Lance. Yet with all of his preparations, the fact was he was still losing. Sometimes not even the best laid plans survive first contact with the enemy, much less four.

However, at least if he went down, he went down fighting. Kewell's ambush hadn't caught him by surprise like the man had been expecting. Now one of Kewell's Knightmares was down and a second was heavily damaged, but the other two were still fully working while his had sustained heavy damage.

"Jeremiah, you're going to pay for letting Prince Clovis's murder go free!"

"Kewell you bastard, stand down! You know why I did what I did." Jeremiah called out, knowing that his former comrade wouldn't listen.

"Silence, 'Orange'! We serve the Imperial Family, why else would we be here? Your lies will not stand."

"Idiot! They aren't lies, I truly serve the Royal Family. I have since I graduated from the Imperial Colchester Institute."

"More lies. We know who you truly serve, I've known since the beginning. You cling to the false Empress Marianne, a common dog who wormed her way into the Imperial Court. But don't fret Jeremiah, you'll soon join you precious Marianne in the afterlife. All hail Britannia!"

With those last words, Kewell and his remaining two men rushed forward in a Y-formation, their lances ready to skewer him. Jeremiah was a man who could brush off comments and insults, especially since he had to deal with the name 'Orange' in the previous timeline. But there was no way he would tolerate insults to his Empress Marianne, even if he no longer followed her because of what she did.

Timing his moves carefully, Jeremiah reminded Kewell just why he was an elite pilot. With some quick maneuvering, Jeremiah avoided two of the lances and struck the already damaged Knightmare with his left Stun Tonfa. The hit further damaged the Knightmare enough that the pilot was forced to eject, but it cost Jeremiah. The third lance struck his right arm and he had to detach it or risk exploding along with it. This left him completely defenseless.

"Don't worry Jeremiah, you're family's name won't be disgraced by this. We'll just tell the Princess that you were lost in battle. Now die."

Before Kewell's lance could pierce his Knightmare, a Slash Harken suddenly appeared and cut him off. The three pilots turned to see the white Knightmare Lancelot retract the Harken. _'At last, I thought he'd never get here.'_

"Stop please, you're all Britannian soldiers! There's no need for this senseless fighting!"

"The Special Corp should stay out of this!" Kewell shouted back at Kururugi. "Interlopers will die along with Orange!"

"No! I won't allow this!"

The Lancelot drew its Maser Vibration Swords in a show of force, but Kewell would not back down. He fired his own Slash Harkens at the Knightmare but they were quickly beaten down by the advanced swords. He then tried to use his lance but that too was cut by the swords, leaving Kewell without a weapon.

"Private Kururugi" Jeremiah called through his radio, "Lord Kewell has started a mutiny against me. I ask for your help in putting it down."

"Yes, my Lord."

"Asking help from an Eleven, and I thought you could stoop no lower Jeremiah. The Lancelot won't save you. Oliver, finish Jeremiah off!"

The last Knightmare rushed into, lance ready. Jeremiah saw that Kururugi couldn't protect him and he knew that he couldn't avoid this attack. He was going to die right here, without ever truly serving his prince. _'Prince Lelouch, please forgive me!'_

However, before the lance struck, another Pureblood Knightmare appeared and crashed into the attacking one. The pilot was forced to eject and the new Knightmare took up a defensive position in front of Jeremiah.

"Jeremiah, I got your message. I'm sorry I was late but it took longer to get the transport than I thought. They'll be here any minute."

"Villetta, you have my thanks. You see Kewell; I anticipated your mutiny and made arrangements. A transport of _loyal_ Purebloods will be here soon to arrest you and your conspirators."

Kewell knew he was beaten. His entire squad been taken out, and Jeremiah was now backed up by not only Villetta Nu, but the advance weapon Lancelot. There was no way he could take them all on, especially since he had only one weapon left, but he had to try.

"Jeremiah, this isn't the end." A hatch opened on the side of Kewell's Knightmare and a cylinder popped out. "I'm using a Chaos Mine!"

The three other pilots were shocked that the rebellious lord was still fighting and that he would use such a weapon.

"No! Stop now!"

"What?"

Suzaku recognized that voice, it was Euphie's. Turning, he saw the pinkette running out into the arena where the battle was taking place, right in the danger zone of the mine.

"Princess Euphemia!"

Jeremiah recognized his prince's younger sister right away. He knew that much rested on the young princess and that he couldn't allow her to be harmed. As quickly as he could, he rushed his Knightmare to protect the princess, but he knew that he wouldn't make it in time; his Knightmare was too badly damaged.

Suzaku didn't even think. He crossed the Lancelot's arms and quickly activated the Blaze Luminous shielding, not even knowing if it would protect them from the shrapnel or not. The shield easily deflected the fire away, but Suzaku had to struggle to keep the shields in place as the force the mine was giving off threatened to knock them away.

A quick look at his energy readings showed that the Blaze Luminous was eating through his available power. If the attack kept up, he wouldn't be able to keep the shields on for more than a few seconds. If that happened, they would all die

While Kururugi was blocking the shrapnel, Jeremiah reached the princess and grabbed her with his only working arm and turned his Knightmare to better protect her until the mine finished.

"Lord Jeremiah!"

"I'm alright Villetta." Checking behind him, Jeremiah saw that the mine was spent and that the Lancelot's shields were down. Looking back at the princess, he saw that she was unharmed and smiling up at him.

"Please, Sir Knight, put me down. The rest of you, lower your weapons!" As soon as she was down on the ground, she walked straight to the center of the arena so that they all could see her. "I am Euphemia li Britannia of the Empire and the Third Princess of the Royal Family! I am taking charge here, so all forces fall back!"

"Euphie?" Suzaku was shocked. Euphie was a princess of Britannia? That explained why she was so familiar, she was Lelouch's sister. Why didn't he see it before, she had the same eye color! He had spent the whole day with a princess of the Empire and didn't even know it. How much trouble was he in now?


	8. Chapter 8

Lelouch could hardly believe his eyes, was what he was seeing real? There, standing in front of his entire class, wearing the uniform of Ashford Academy, was Suzaku Kururugi. It was unbelievable. Not only was Suzaku alive, but he was also enrolled at the very same school Lelouch went too. What were the odds of that? Lelouch knew he could calculate them but for some reason his mind didn't seem able because Suzaku was really there.

Lelouch watched as Suzaku took a seat at the back of the class and continued to watch him throughout the rest of the day, along with everyone else. Suzaku ignored everyone and instead focused on what was being taught, one of the few who did so. He even didn't acknowledge Lelouch at all, acting like they had never met before.

Throughout the day Lelouch listened to his classmates discussions. They talked as if Suzaku wasn't even human and couldn't hear him. Many were suspicious because of the accusations of him being Clovis's murderer, others couldn't get over the fact that he was born an Eleven, even though he was an Honorary Britannian.

As a law, many Numbers were restricted from most Britannian areas in the colonies. This included Ashford and only Britannian citizens were allowed to attend. Suzaku was an Honorary Britannian and thus allowed to go to school at Ashford, but he most likely was the first honorary citizen to even attempt to attend.

Deciding to get some answers, Lelouch carefully stood up from his desk and walked over to the classroom door. As he passed Suzaku, he adjusted his walk so that the boy would notice him. As soon as he was sure Suzaku was watching, Lelouch fixed the collar of his uniform.

'_Now to see if he remembers any of the codes I taught him'_ Lelouch thought as he exited the classroom. He made his way up to the roof of the main building and looked out over the campus as he waited. A few minutes later, the door to the roof opened and he could hear footsteps behind him.

"Seven years since we used this signal," Lelouch said as he turned around. Just as expected, Suzaku was standing there. "Long time, huh?"

"Meeting on the roof. Just like the old days." Suzaku joined him leaning on the rail. "I'm glad to see you're O.K., I've been worried."

"Alive and kicking thanks to you" Lelouch laughed. No need to bring up C.C. Maybe if he played his cards right he could get a little information out of him about her.

"What about the girl from the capsule? What happened to her?"

"I don't really know, we got separated pretty quickly. She could be dead for all I know. But you would know more about her than I would, right?"

"No. The only ones who knew anything were the inner circle of the Royal Guard."

'_Darn, useless information. They're all dead thanks to me. I guess it was worth a shot anyway.'_

"What about you, do I still call you Lelouch or are you going by a different name nowadays?"

"Officially, Lelouch vi Britannian and his sister died during the invasion. Me and Nunnally go by the name Lamperouge now, a pair of orphaned siblings from the Homeland who came to Area Eleven for a new start.

"By the way, what happened at your court martial, Nunnally's been worried. And why did you enroll in this school?"

"I'm just as surprised as you were, though I've been getting more than my share of shocks lately."

"What do you mean?"

"You heard how Cornelia's become the new Viceroy, right? Well, she brought your sister Euphemia with her."

'_Euphie's here?'_ Lelouch was shocked. Euphie had still been a little girl with a large crush on him the last time he saw her. Now she was supposed to be the sub-Viceroy of a Britannian colony?

"I met her by chance just after my court martial, though I didn't know she was a princess at the time. Turns out she came to Area Eleven before Cornelia because she was curious about it. She heard about what had happened and arranged this so that I could receive a proper investigation. That was that was needed for them to drop all charges. Well, that and the Margrave suddenly changing positions."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you this, it's being hushed up by the military. Margrave Jeremiah wasn't the one who charged me with the murder of Prince Clovis, it was one of the other Pureblood officers.

"When I got released, they say he went a little insane as there were rumors that he would lose his position and rank as it was him that did everything. Along with whole Zero fiasco, the Purebloods were losing everything. This officer got it in his head that if he killed the Margrave, he could stop the Purebloods' fall from grace and arranged an ambush for him.

"Luckily, me and a loyal Pureblood officer were close by and managed to save Margrave Jeremiah, though it was Euphie who stopped the fighting by revealing herself. Afterwards, the Margrave and Euphie promoted me to warrant officer for my actions and the disloyal officer and his fellows were arrested for mutiny and attempted murder."

"Sounds like you had quite the day."

"Yeah, I nearly had a heart attack when Euphie revealed herself. I had just spent the whole day showing her around the Area and didn't even realize that she was a princess. I thought for sure I was in big trouble. But she just thanked me for showing her around and said that someone like me should be in school. She's the one that pick Ashford. I wonder what she would think if she were to learn that not only were you and I friends, but that we're attending the same school."

"It's been awhile but I'm guessing Euphie would freak out and cry all over the place in joy. She had this little crush on me when we were little and she just loved to play with me and Nunnally. But as much as we miss her, you cannot tell anyone the truth about me and Nunnally, got it?"

"Got it. Don't worry, the only ones who know the truth are you, me, and Nunnally."

While Lelouch and Suzaku were catching up, another meeting of two former friends was just beginning. Kallen was alone in the Student Council room catching up on some missed homework when Milly entered and sat down right across from her. Kallen didn't look up immediately but when she did, her blood froze.

Milly was smiling. And not the regular 'I'm happy' smile, no this one was one Kallen recognized from her time spent with the Student Council, though she wasn't supposed to recognize it yet. It was the smile that said Milly had something prefect to mess with the life of some poor council member (usually Lelouch) and she was ready to use it.

It was the thing Kallen feared most. Forget hundreds of Britannian soldiers and Knightmares. Even the F.L.E.I.J.A. had nothing on Milly's smile. And the dreaded thing was focused directly on Kallen. Her mind was screaming at her to run, run very far away and very fast, but the rest of her body wasn't listening. It was frozen in absolute fear.

So, Kallen" Milly said in a sweet voice that made the hairs on her neck stand on end, "do you have any secrets you want to share?"

"N-no." Kallen said. What was Milly getting at?

"Nothing?"

"Yeah."

"What about you and Lelouch?"

Kallen couldn't breathe. Had she discovered something? "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, just this." was Milly's response as she push a folder towards her.

Hesitantly, Kallen picked up the folder and opened it. Inside was a picture of her and Lelouch, taken yesterday when they had almost kissed. What was worse, Kallen saw that her body was leaning into Lelouch's, making it look like they really were kissing. Her mind knew what it wanted and her body tried to give it to her.

Looking up, Kallen saw that Milly had a devilish smirk on her face. With a jolt, she realized that while most of her body was cold in fear, her face was really warm. A large blush, as red as her hair, was all over the ace's face and Milly could see it and knew what it meant.

"So, what's up with you and Lelouch?"

"N-nothing!"

"Are you secretly dating, secretly lovers, secretly having an affair, secretly engaged, married?" she said all really fast. Kallen could barely understand what the president was saying.

"No, no, no; it's not like that at all!" She held up her arms to try and wave the whole thing off, but Milly wasn't having it. She had seen the evidence and was going to get to the bottom of it one way or another.

"Very well, have it your way. Just know that when I find out the truth, I'll make sure the whole school knows about it. And you can guarantee that I will find out, Milly Ashford never gives up!"

The insane blonde left laughing, leaving behind the folder and the pictures. Kallen groaned and put her head in her hands on the table.

"How did she get these pictures?" she moaned out loud.

"I tipped her off" said a voice.

Jumping up, Kallen saw C.C. dressed in an Ashford uniform walking in through another door.

"C.C.? Wha…. Where did you get those clothes, and what do you mean you tipped her off?" a very angry red-head asked.

C.C. just walked over to the table and leaned over to get a better look at the pictures. "Sayoko gave them to me as I didn't have anything else to wear. Plus, they allow me to blend in around here. As for your other question, I told Nunnally what I was going to do and Lelouch's probable reaction. Wanting to mess with her brother some more, she agreed to let your friend know to watch him with a camera."

"Wait," Kallen said, realizing something, "you set us up, didn't you?"

"What can I say, you're almost as much fun to mess with as Lelouch."

Kallen just groaned again, C.C. would be the death of her, she just knew it.

"Kallen, I…oh!"

Milly had just reentered the council room and had seen C.C. _'Crap!'_ both Black Knights thought.

"Who are you? Are you a friend of Kallen's?"

"No!"

"Yes, I'm C.C."

"C.C. huh? Interesting name, though I don't recall ever hearing it or seeing you around before. Are you new?"

"No!"

"Yes."

"Quit contradicting me" Kallen whispered harshly.

"I wouldn't have to if you just let me speak."

"I can't do that, you'll mess everything up!"

Milly was very confused. This C.C. girl seemed nice but something strange was going on around here. Kallen and C.C. were hiding something, and she knew they were because she knew all about hiding things and bringing them to light. Whatever it was, it had to be more than Kallen's fake illness, nobody as sick as her could act like that.

"Kallen, what's going on?"

"Nothing!" the girl snapped back at her friend.

It was then Kallen realized something was wrong. Milly just stood there, wide-eyed and frozen. Kallen began to panic. She knew that she was acting out of her character and that Milly had just figured out that she wasn't really sick. But after a couple of seconds, she realized that wasn't it. Then, she felt the burning in her left eye.

"Kallen?" Milly muttered as she wobbled. "Uh, Black Knights, Rolo, United Federation of Nations, Zero, Demon Lelouch!"

That snapped Kallen out of her shock. Leaping over the table, she quickly covered Milly's mouth before the blonde could say anything else.

"Shh, Madam President, don't say such things out loud."

Milly obliged, but ripped Kallen's hand away from her mouth. She had no idea what was going on and she wanted answers, now! The last thing she remembered was report the success of the UFN negotiations in France with Zero. The next thing she knew, she was in the Student Council room of Ashford Academy with Kallen, who was supporting a mysterious red eye.

"Alright Kallen, what's going on here? And don't you dare try any of your Black Knight moves, I'm trained in self-defense!"

"Shh, Milly" Kallen pleaded. The girl didn't say anything but continued to glare. Kallen knew she had to explain everything, otherwise the whole plan would fall.

"You should really watch your temper there Kallen" C.C. said simply, undisturbed by the recent change in events. "You wouldn't want to wake anyone up with your Geass now would you?"

"Geass?"

"Milly, just hold on, I'll explain everything I can in a minute. As for you C.C., did you do this?"

"Of course not, you're the one with the Geass power. Honestly, if you can't even control something simple as your temper how can you expect to control your Geass?"

"It's not active, is it?"

"Not yet, but if you don't control yourself, it'll be a very soon thing. We wouldn't want to wake someone up we wouldn't want woken up, right?"

"Hey, I remember you! You were that girl that was with Lelouch at the UFN meeting, weren't you!"

"Milly."

"Kallen, answers, now!"

"Alright," Kallen said defeated, "but you better sit down, it's going to be a long story."

Milly did as she was told and listened as Kallen explain the whole story as best as she could, with some interruptions provided by C.C. every now and again. Everything from the birth of Zero to the two rebellions and in-between along with the entire history of the Black Knights was explained. Then, Kallen explained about Geass and the truth behind the Zero Requiem.

"So, Lelouch really wasn't such a demon after all, I'm glad. You don't know how hard I found it believing how evil he was all these years."

"It was harder for me."

"That's right, you actually fought with and against him." Milly looked down and spotted the pictures. "You also loved him, didn't you."

This time, Kallen didn't deny it. "Yes."

"So that's why all this is happening, you're trying to save him from himself, aren't you?"

"Yes, but he doesn't know and he can't know. Please, help us keep this a secret. The only ones who know the truth are you, me, C.C., Sayoko, Nunnally, and Jeremiah Gottwald."

"That's quite the list, I'm surprised you all haven't started your own rebellion within the rebellion."

"We have, but it's been slow going because we have to keep to as much as the original timeline as possible, otherwise our knowledge is useless."

"Don't worry, I'll keep this a secret for you. Besides, now I can have more fun messing with Lelouch even more and now I've got an entire case of brand-new ammunition."

Milly then looked directly at C.C. with a predatory grin. Kallen suddenly realized the danger of having C.C. and Milly met. Milly looked as if she had just been handed the world's supply of gold. Considering this was Milly, anything she could use against Lelouch was gold.

"Hey, I have an idea. Why don't you join us on the Student Council C.C., we could always use more help. Plus, you can be around Lelouch more."

"NO!" Kallen couldn't help but shout. The last thing she needed was for C.C. to join the Council.

"Sounds like fun, but I have just one question. Do you guys have pizza?"

"We always have pizza at our meetings."

"What kinds?"

"All kinds!"

C.C. licked her lips hungrily. "Then I will join your Student Council."

Milly cheered and Kallen groaned. The president asked the witch a few questions and then left to finalize the paperwork.

"What?" C.C. asked as Kallen glared at her. "It was Nunnally's idea in the first place. Besides, Lelouch thinks I'm supposed to hide right? Well, image what'll happen when he learns that I've joined you guys. Now thing about all the fun we three can have with Lelouch."

Kallen thought about it. As she thought about it, the more she liked it and the more her frown turned into a smile. Oh yes, they would be able to have a lot of fun. Last time, Lelouch had messed with her quite a bit and it annoyed her. But this time she, C.C., and Milly could do a whole lot more to him together then he could do to her. After all, three heads are better than one.

Up on the roof, a certain black-haired prince felt a sudden chill go up his spine. His man-senses were warning him to run, run very far away and very fast. Unfortunately, he didn't listen and sealed his doom.

* * *

After finalizing her student files, C.C. told Kallen the reason she had appeared in front of her. The meeting between the four of Orange's key players was about to begin. Sayoko and Jeremiah were already waiting for them, discussing their various tasks they did for Lelouch. When the two girls arrived, they quickly silenced themselves and got right down to business.

"My plan to destroy the Purists worked perfectly, though it was a little crude. As of right now, nearly two-thirds of the Purebloods have been arrested and many of the rest have turned on each other."

"What of Villetta?"

"She and a small number have remained loyal to me and won't lose their positions but they are most likely to be reassigned to other areas because of this. All I have to do now is deal with Cornelia because of the Zero incident and I'll be in the clear."

"Do you really think she'll let you off the hook? With the way you've portrayed Orange, she'll probably never let you go until you tell her all about it."

"I've come up with several cover stories so we don't need to worry about that."

"Well then, it appears our enemies here have been nearly taken care of, that just leaves the ones outside Japan."

"You mean the Emperor and the Geass Order?"

"Don't forget about Schneizel."

"We don't have to worry about him just yet, if everything works out, he won't be much of a threat."

"And Lelouch already plans to finish the Emperor himself, like he has in the previous time."

"But he doesn't know anything of the truth."

"Relax, I'll tell him everything in time. By the time he faces the Emperor, Lelouch will know everything."

"That just leaves the Geass Order then."

"No, we also have to deal with Charles's Ragnarok Connection."

"Tell us more about that C.C."

"It was a plan developed by Charles, his brother V.V. and later Marianne to destroy God and unite humanity into one single being. Thankfully, we are already slowing it down. Charles needs two Codes to start Ragnarok. He has V.V. so all he needs is me and I'm here, hiding with Lelouch."

"You may have been able to avoid being captured last time around, but we don't know if we can prevent it from happening this time, we need a way to stop Ragnarok permanently."

"We do, the Thought Elevators."

"You mean that thing on Kamine Island?"

"Yes. There are an unknown number in the world though I think there are only eight still capable of starting the Ragnarok Connection. If we can destroy at least three of them, we can stop Ragnarok completely."

"That's my mission then, isn't it? You want me to go to what Thought Elevators I can and destroy them?"

"Yes, and we are lucky as two of them should allow you to work undiscovered. As Kallen said, one is located on Kamine Island, so that will be our first target. There is another in the Antarctic that I have a connection to. The third will be our best strike."

"Why's that?"

"Because the third Thought Elevator in located within the Geass Order's headquarters."

"Then, when we finish off the Order, we finish Ragnarok."

"But we shouldn't take that risk. From what I understand, the Order is very powerful so we'll need a single strike to take them out or the Emperor will learn of our plans and come after us."

"We're already working on it. Though I guess you're right. I know the location of two other Thought Elevators in Britannia. We should destroy them as well, just to be sure."

"Give me the coordinates of the ones on Kamine and the Antarctic. As soon as Cornelia's dealt with, I'll take care of them."

* * *

**Sorry it just ends there, I couldn't come up wtih a way to finish it so I just stopped there. I had so much fun writing C.C. this chapter. I have a question to all my readers who also write Code Geass. When you write C.C., do you get pizza cravings as well? I do! **


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm really sorry about not uploading anything lately. I thought I'd posted this before I left on my trip to Orlando before the new year. I only realized I hadn't just a few days ago when I was double checking another of my stories. Again, I'm terribly sorry about this, I hope you can forgive me.**

* * *

Jeremiah 'Orange' Gottwald had just returned to the Viceroy's Palace when Lord Gilbert G. P. Guilford and two of Cornelia's Royal Guards blocked his path.

"You've been avoiding me Gottwald, me and the Viceroy. Any reason why you're behaving so suspiciously?"

"Uh, Lord Gilford! I, uh, just didn't know how the Viceroy would take me letting the killer of Prince Clovis go. I've heard rumors about what she's done to some of the officers who failed her in the past and I didn't want to personally find out if they were true or not."

Gilford glared at him for a few seconds before he spoke again. "Princess Cornelia is very upset about the Zero fiasco you and the rest of the Purebloods let happen. However, word of the reason why you let him go as well as what you did for Princess Euphemia the other night have given you just enough room to let you explain yourself."

"Thank-you Lord Gilford, I promise you'll understand once I explain-''

"To Her Highness, personally."

Jeremiah gulped. The real reason he had been avoiding Gilford was because he remembered what the man had done to him last time around. That and his fear of Cornelia wasn't completely unfounded. In the past Jeremiah Gottwald wouldn't have much fear for the Witch of Britannia but that was after he got his cyborg body. Now, he was just as human as any other officer who had displeased the Second Princess. This wasn't going to fun at all but it was better to get it over with as soon as possible.

"Where is the Viceroy?"

"She and General Dalton are leading a campaign against the terrorist faction called the Blood of the Samurai. Ever since Zero's appearance all these factions have been popping up everywhere. Maybe we should thank him before executing him. Without him, it probably would've taken us weeks, maybe even months, to find all of them."

Gilford and his men laughed as they walked away. Jeremiah allowed himself a small laugh to keep his cover. On the inside he was struggling to not murder the knight for suggesting he execute his prince. The only people he would allow to lay a hand on Prince Lelouch were Princess Nunnally and Kallen, and only because they were probably the only ones who could knock sense into him.

After spending the rest of the day getting to know each other again Lelouch invited Suzaku to his place for dinner and to reintroduce Nunnally to him. Suzaku didn't know that Nunnally could now see and Nunnally had no idea that Suzaku was here, it was going to be a wonderful surprise for them both once Sayoko brought Nunnally back from shopping. Lelouch had Suzaku hide in the kitchen while he waited in the dining area for the girls to return.

"Hi Lelouch, we're back."

"Welcome home Nunnally, Miss Sayoko." Standing from his place at the table where he was patiently waiting, Lelouch continued, "I've got a special present for you today."

"Really?" Nunnally asked, feigning surprise. She knew what was going to happen but that didn't mean she had to act completely. She had never seen Suzaku in person, not even once he took on the mask of Zero. She couldn't wait to see him.

Wanting to keep Nunnally's new eyesight a surprise for Suzaku, Lelouch quietly walked forward and knelt in front of his sister. He covered both of his sister's eyes with one hand, silently telling her to close them, while using the other to also silently tell Sayoko to not say a word. Once he was sure Nunnally's eyes were closed and motioned towards Suzaku, who was now peeking around the corner.

The boy walked over and, like his friend, knelt by Nunnally's wheelchair. At a nod from Lelouch, Suzaku took Nunnally's right hand and placed it in his own. While Nunnally could now see she retained the ability to read emotions by feeling a person's hand and remembering certain hands. Due to her time at both the Kururugi Shrine and her time as Viceroy of Area Eleven Nunnally was very familiar with Suzaku's hand. Even so, she was surprised to feel it once again.

"This hand." Tears came to her eyes as Nunnally opened them to confirm that her brother's friend, her crush and bodyguard was really there. Behind a shocked Suzaku, Lelouch stood smiling as the two most important people in his life meet once again.

"It's, it's really you, Suzaku."

"Nunnally, it's been a long time."

After explaining how Nunnally could suddenly see again, the three sat down to eat a traditional Japanese diner that Sayoko was only too happy to cook. To the three friends, it was like being back in the Kururugi Shrine seven years ago.

"Suzaku's enrolled here at Ashford as a student, so you can see him anytime you like" Lelouch explained to his little sister.

"Actually Lelouch, I'm still in the military. I have duties I need to complete so I can't be here every day. Don't worry," he added quickly seeing Nunnally's frightened look, "I've been reassigned to the Engineering Corp., much less dangerous."

"That's cool" Lelouch said, standing with the empty tea pot.

"Let me help you!" Suzaku said, also standing.

"Just sit Suzaku. This time we get to play _your_ host."

Suzaku and Nunnally shared a laugh as Lelouch walked into the kitchen to find C.C. wearing an Ashford Uniform.

"I thought I told you to remain in my room."

"That boy, he's the solider from Shinjuku isn't he? Is that wise?" she said, completely ignoring his earlier statement.

"Don't worry about it, he's…he's a friend from the past."

"I see. By the way, I was caught earlier."

"WHAT? By whom? This is exactly why I told you to stay hidden."

"Oh relax it wasn't that bad. It was by that blonde friend of yours and that red-head you kissed the other day."

A small smile appeared on C.C.'s lips as Lelouch blushed lightly and said, "We did not kiss."

"Well, it looked like a kiss to me. They invited me to join your Student Council and I accepted, otherwise they would've gotten suspicious."

"This isn't good. Suzaku knows what you look like and he'll see you around campus."

"Oh come now, how long did you think you'd be able to hide me? Your sister has her eyes now and that maid of your isn't exactly blind either. With that soldier being a friend of yours he was bound to come over a handful of times so he would've seen me then. Best get it out now, otherwise you'll have to come up to a very good explanation as to why you're hiding a girl who looks like the one you two rescued in Shinjuku in your room."

"And just how am I going to explain this to him?"

"And here I thought you were smart. Why not use that little gift I gave you, huh boya?"

"I," Lelouch hesitated, "I didn't want to have to use it on him."

"Because he's a friend? He's a Britannian soldier and you've declared war on Britannia. You're going to have to use it on him sooner or later."

"Then let me save it for when I really need to use it!"

"I thought you weren't going to use it on him?"

"Witch" Lelouch growled.

"And don't you forget it" C.C. said with a giggle.

"So what's the deal, something happen to you yesterday or what? You did even show up for the Council meeting. We have a new member you know, cute but a little crazy."

It was the next day and Rivalz and Lelouch were talking outside the classroom before classes started.

"Well I kinda tanked that history exam…"

"Please, the way you study-"

The rest of Rivalz's statement was ignored as Suzaku walked by them, catching both of their eyes. As per Suzaku's wishes, Lelouch avoided him, acting like he wasn't there. He also hated himself as, despite his own wishes, he was forced to use his Geass on Suzaku. Using his Geass, he forced Suzaku to believe that when he saw C.C. at Ashford he was to believe that she was Cera Carenami, C.C. chosen identity, a different girl than the one they rescued in the Shinjuku Ghetto.

Throughout most of the day Lelouch thought about what he did to his friend and Suzaku's comments last night. He didn't want them to associate with each other in school, to hide their past and protect the fact that they were royalty. While Lelouch was grateful that Suzaku wanted to help protect Nunnally, he knew that she needed more than to hide, she needed friends.

He and Sayoko were fine but Lelouch knew that Nunnally needed more. The Student Council introduced her to plenty of friendly people but even then it wasn't enough. Nunnally wasn't really a member of the Council and couldn't sit in on all of their meetings and the members themselves were busy with the projects Milly assigned them. Someone else, someone she was used to, was needed. Someone like Suzaku.

Suzaku was also a part of Lelouch's plan to destroy Britannia. His future army would be made up of mostly Elevens at first. To build it he would have to motivate them and Suzaku on his side would help with that. He thought that part of his plan was shot when he turned down Zero, but now he was offered a second chance. He would have to proceed slowly, convince him of the righteousness of his actions. Then, once Suzaku was finally on his side, Britannia would fall, his father would die, and his mother would be avenged.

And speaking of his army, the first soldier had contacted him again. Their leader, Ohgi, was worried about Cornelia. The Blood of the Samurai was the four group to fall to her since she took over as Viceroy of Area Eleven and was the largest yet. Knowing her, it wasn't long before she went after Zero. Due to the risk in becoming familiar with Ohgi'g group, especially since Kallen was in it, Lelouch was seriously considering cutting ties with them and finding another terrorist group to lead. But that was a matter for another time, right now he had have tea with Nunnally.

C.C. walked into Lelouch's room carrying her beloved pizza. Her demon working on a carrying case with Zero's mask lying next to it. He was obviously trying to hide it; whether from his sister or anyone else who might show up she didn't know. All she did know was that something about this was striking a warning light in her brain, she just couldn't figure out what it was.

Before she had a chance to comment on it, the door behind her opened and Nunnally appeared. Lelouch quickly swept the mask into the case, hiding it from his sister's view.

"Lelouch, the tea's ready. Oh, hi C.C., would you care to join us?"

"No thank-you Nunnally, I'll just stay here and enjoy my pizza."

Nunnally giggled. "Careful C.C., eat too much pizza and you'll get a blubbery belly, and I don't think Lelouch would like that too much."

"Nunnally" Lelouch groaned.

C.C. just smiled and said, "Don't worry; there's little chance of that happening. Beside, I'm sure Lelouch has more important things to worry about than my appearance, don't you Lelouch?" She said this with a flirtatious wink, causing her target to blush lightly. It was just too easy this time around.

"Let's go Nunnally. And you don't touch anything."

Nunnally giggled as Lelouch pushed her away and C.C. stuck her tongue out at him. She kept that way for a few second until she was distracted by a soft thud and a cat's yowl. Spinning around C.C. didn't see anything strange except for the case, when had fallen on the floor. Then the door opened once again but no one was there. Then, the warning light in her mind finally made sense.

"Oh fudge!" she said as she started to run after the mischievous Arthur. She had to catch him before he escaped the house; otherwise her demon was in very great danger.

The demon himself was having tea with his sister, listening to her describe how some of the other students were reacting to Suzaku's presence at Ashford.

"Isn't there anything you can do?" Nunnally asked her brother. She had forgotten how cruel the other students had been to Suzaku. Even after becoming Euphie's knight a large number still didn't trust or like him. While she no longer held a crush for him, he was her first friend outside the royal family and she wanted to help him.

"It's just…these things take time."

Nunnally looked down in sadness. Like last time Lelouch was unable to do anything to help his friend. Then again, what did she expect, she was different not him, he wouldn't be able to change anything this time because he couldn't last time.

She was lost in thought, staring into her half drunken teacup when Lelouch let out a startled shriek. Startled, Nunnally looked up to see her brother's face filled with horror. She followed his gaze to see a cat's tail disappear around the doorway, Lelouch following a second later.

"Arthur?"

C.C. then arrived and looked at her.

"Arthur escaped again, didn't he? Darn." She then pulled out a cellphone and pressed a button. "Kallen, it's me. We have a problem."

At the same time, a certain blonde hadn't forgotten what happened this day; she never forgot anything that was related to embarrassing Lelouch. She was so certain that this time, she would finally get some really good dirt on Lelouch. And so, once she was sure of the correct time, Milly Ashford went on the PA system.

"This is your Student Council President Milly Ashford speaking. Cat Hunt everyone! There's a cat lose on campus that needs to be rounded up, put everything on hold people. Participating clubs will get budget priority. And whoever catches our feline friend will get an extra special prize, a big old kiss from a member of the Student Council!"

Kallen had just finished listening to C.C. explain the situation when Milly's announcement came over the PA system. To her horror most of the guys immediately went into action hunting for the cat, just so they could get a kiss from her. The same was true for the girls, only instead of her; they wanted a kiss from Lelouch. Kallen wasn't having any of it.

"There's no way I'm kissing anyone but Lelouch, and you can dream again girls because he's mine. Oh, why do I have to pretend I'm sick and feeble?"

There was only one way to stop this, explain to Milly what Arthur the cat had really stolen. Even Milly wouldn't risk Lelouch's identity as Zero. Once she was properly warned she would hopefully call off the hunt.

The entire campus was abuzz with activity as everyone rushed to a fro looking for the cat. This hindered Kallen's movements greatly as she couldn't run and was forced to walk at as fast a pace as she could. There was a good chance that Milly had left the Clubhouse already but Kallen had to make sure, Lelouch was in danger and as Q-1, she would protect him.

Unfortunately, the Clubhouse was empty except for Nina, who was busy working away on her computer.

"Nina? What are you doing here; I thought you'd be out looking for the cat."

"Oh, Kallen. You see, I'm not too interested in the hunt really and I've so much work here."

It was then Kallen noticed what Nina was working on, the project that was one day to become the F.L.E.I.J.A. She couldn't allow that terrible project to be completed. Kallen was conflicted, on one hand, using her Geass on Nina would end F.L.E.I.J.A. but could she be trusted. Nina never was Zero's biggest fan. On the other hand, she did develop many handy tools for Britannia and the Black Knights for keeping the peace.

The real question though, was if her Geass could handle it. Already she had used it too often. Jeremiah, Nunnally, Sayoko, and Milly, could she handle anyone else? And there were plans for others in the future, maybe.

Making her decision, Kallen said, "Nina, could you look at me for a second?"

"Kallen? What are you…?"

Just like with the others, Nina froze once her gaze focused on Kallen's Geass sigil. A few seconds later Nina snapped out of it and looked at her computer in horror. Furiously, she started typing, all the while muttering "Oh no, oh no!"

"Nina, Nina, stop!"

"I can't Kallen, I can't let F.L.E.I.J.A. be created, I can't."

"Just wait, and clam down. Didn't you make some good things using your F.L.E.I.J.A. research?"

"Ah!" Nina turned away from Kallen to look at her data, much of which had been deleted. "All that work."

"Don't worry; you can remember much of it, right?"

"Maybe, but what am I going to do with it?"

"I can think of one thing," Kallen said, an idea forming in her mind. "I'll explain it to you later but right now I have a cat to find."

Kallen ran out of the Clubhouse, trying to find Milly still. There was no one nearby, which was good as she could still feel the burn of her Geass. Just as she was fearing that it had become active for good, it went away. Kallen made a mental note to have C.C. made a pair of Geass contact lenses for her and Lelouch, just in case.

Kallen didn't know where to look for Arthur, that cat could be anywhere. And going to the clock tower seemed like a good idea as that was where Lelouch and Suzaku cornered him last time, but she could be sure that was where he would go this time; this was an entirely different chase.

Suddenly, Zero's head popped up from a bush next to Kallen, scaring the living daylights out of her.

"Ahhhhh!"

"Meow?" Zero asked. It was then Kallen realized that it wasn't really Zero but Arthur wearing Zero's mask on his head.

"Why you little…"

Kallen was not happy with Arthur at the moment. The cat seemed to sense her anger and ducked back into the bush.

"Get back here!" she shouted and dove into the bush after him.

"Kallen?"

Digging herself out of the bush, she saw Suzaku running over.

"Did you find the cat?"

"Uh, yeah. It's hiding in the bush."

"Here, I'll get it."

"NO! I mean, I can get him. Just watch in case he tries to run away.

Kallen then stuck her head into the bush again. It was scratchy and difficult to see but it wasn't too hard to find Arthur. He was using the branches of the bush to try and remove the mask and was failing.

"Here, let me get that for you" Kallen said sweetly as she reached into the bush. She pet Arthur's back to let me know she wasn't a threat before reaching around to grasp the mask.

"How do you get this darn thing off?" she muttered as the mask wouldn't let go. It was difficult looking for the switch that would release the mask as she couldn't see anything. Finally, she found it and the mask came off. The moment it happened Arthur took off out of the bush.

"Gotcha!" Suzaku shouted from outside the bush. Taking her head out from the bush, Kallen could see Suzaku holding Arthur in his arms.

"Hey," he said, looking closer, "is this the same cat from the other day?" Kallen didn't know what he was talking about but Arthur proved who he was by taking a large bite out of Suzaku's finger. "Yep, it's the same one."

Kallen couldn't help but giggle a bit; good old Arthur. However, she couldn't get to Zero's mask until Suzaku left.

"Suzaku! Kallen!"

Lelouch had arrived and following him was about half the school. C.C. wheeled Nunnally forward while Rivalz and Milly jumped from the boy's motorcycle and sidecar respectively. But it was poor Shirley would caught Kallen's attention. She had completely forgotten that the oragnette had swim practice at the moment and was dressed in only her suit, much a handful of boys' appreciation and her embarrassment.

"Well," said Milly eagerly stepping forward, "it looks like the new guy won the cat hunt. So, lucky guy, which lady do you want a kiss from?"

She pulled the rest of the girls together, including a shy Nina. Kallen used this time to give Shirley her Ashford jacket to cover herself up with.

"Actually, it was Kallen who found the cat, not me." Suzaku said nervously.

Everyone turned towards the sick girl and Kallen could see a few guys moving forward, hoping to be chosen to get the kiss. But once again, Shirley caught her attention. Kallen remembered the crush the girl had for Lelouch. Rivalz had told her upon her return to Ashford how Shirley's crush for Lelouch had only increased, despite their memories being manipulated as well as what had happened on Cupid's Day.

Kallen fully identified Shirley as her one true rival for Lelouch's affections but at the same time she recognized her as a good friend, both this time and last. And as a friend Kallen felt like she had to do something for her. She knew that soon, Shirley wouldn't stand a chance at gaining Lelouch's affections so she decided to give her what she always wanted. Besides, although she may not want any other girl to kiss Lelouch, she was somewhat comfortable with Shirley doing it.

"Madam President," Kallen said, manipulating her voice enough for the blonde to know that she was planning something, "would it be possible for me to give my prize to someone else, I don't really feel like giving out a kiss."

Milly gave her a questioning glance and Kallen slightly jerked her head towards Shirley, who was looking a little hopeful and relieved. Once she understood her plan, Milly got her mischievous smile on and nodded.

"And just who would you want to give your prize to Kallen?"

Milly's question was answered when Kallen lightly shoved Shirley in Lelouch's direction. It didn't take the rest of the school long to figure out what Kallen was doing and everyone got excited with C.C. and Nunnally giving her curious looks.

"Well Shirley, it looks as if you're our new winner. So, who are going to give the special kiss to? Which lucky black-haired, violet-eyed boy are you going to kiss?"

Shirley didn't, or couldn't, say anything as she was blushing too hard. When she didn't answer Milly gave a hand signal to Rival, who pushed Lelouch closer and made Shirley's blush deeper.

"Well Shirley, we're waiting."

Shirley glanced around but she was no hope for escape or help. Everyone was watching her, waiting for her to finally kiss Lelouch.

"Um, uh, uh" she stuttered, unable to form a single word, either out loud or in her head. Finally, she accepted that there was no escaping this and sighed in defeat. Turning towards a nervous Lelouch, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before leaning in.

She felt her lips touch skin and heard everyone around her gasp. It was nothing like she thought it would be; there were no fireworks, no tiny shock, no anything, not even the relief she thought she would feel at admitting her feelings.

Opening her eyes slightly to see what Lelouch was doing, Shirley quickly pulled back and wished right then that Kallen had kept her prize. Instead of kissing Lelouch, she had accidently kissed Rivalz, who was holding Lelouch in place. Both boys were blinking in shock, and they weren't the only ones. The entire Council was staring at her in a weird way. Mortified, Shirley ran, pushing past the students who had surrounded them.


	10. Chapter 10

**I know some of you were a little upset about what I did to poor Shirley last chapter, but you have to admit, even the _Code Geass_ writers didn't what her and Lelouch together. Even time she thought she had him, something horrible happened to her. I'm not saying I wouldn't like Shirley and Lelouch together, I'm just not going to make is easy for her. Expect some more embarrassments in future chapters.**

**Also, after a great deal of thinking, and rewatching the entire series, I finally have decided how to end this story. I won't say any more here, otherwise you won't finish reading it.**

* * *

'Poor Shirley' Kallen thought as she watched the orange-haired run off. She didn't know how Shirley had ended up kissing Rivalz instead as Lelouch was right in front of her, there was practically no way she could miss.

Maybe fate didn't want Shirley and Lelouch together. First was Narita with Shirley's father's death, then Lelouch wiping her memory with Geass. After that was the Black Rebellion and both of their memories be erased. And of course, right when Shirley finally was dating Lelouch, Rolo murdered her. Poor Shirley.

"Hey," Milly shouted, dragging everyone's attention back to her, "That cat was carrying something on its head, right Suzaku, Kallen? Did either of you manage to get a look at it?"

"No, not me" Suzaku said, slightly embarrassed. "I just caught the cat when he ran out of the bushes. What about you Kallen?"

"No, I didn't see anything either." Kallen focused on a nervous looking Lelouch. "The cat was just hiding in the bush when I saw it and I didn't see whatever it was carrying in there in the first place. I guess he must've dropped it somewhere. Oh well."

Out of the corner of her eye, while everyone was focused on her, Kallen saw C.C. digging in the bush for the mask. As soon as she had it, she slipped away unseen. Both Kallen and Lelouch let out a small sigh as she did, Zero's identity still hidden.

Milly gave a large sigh in defeat. "Just when I thought I had some good dirt on you Lulu."

"Better luck next time Madam President. By the way, there's something I've been wanting to talk to you about." Lelouch then turned towards Suzaku. "The rules of Ashford Academy clearly state that all students are required to join a club. If you and Suzaku don't have any objections, I'd like to nominate him as a member."

"Well, as Vice-President, I suppose I can't refuse you. Of course, I'm not about to pass up a golden opportunity. As your friend, Suzaku must have all sorts of interesting stories about you I can use."

Both boys were shocked, and a little nervous, but neither said anything. Wanting to start their friendship/rivalry off right, Kallen hesitantly stepped forward.

"Welcome aboard Suzaku, my name's Kallen Stadtfeld. My poor friend with the orange hair who ran off is Shirley Fenette. Don't worry; I'll introduce you to her later."

Taking her cue, the rest of the Council introduced themselves. After Suzaku had deposited Arthur into a delighted Nunnally's lap and Rivalz dragged the new member off to celebrate, the rest of the student body disappeared, leaving only Lelouch and Kallen.

"Kallen, are you sure you didn't see whatever it was that cat got?"

"No," she said, adopting her usual Stadtfeld attitude towards Lelouch, "I don't know what kind of game you and the President are playing, but next time, leave me out of it. Honestly, offering up people as prizes…"

Kallen then stomped off, letting Lelouch believe she was quietly ranting about Britannians. After she had left Lelouch behind, Kallen rushed to catch up with Nina. Luckily, the girl was heading back to the Clubhouse by herself.

"Nina! We need to have a little chat."

As they walked, Kallen explained everything to the genius that she knew; about Geass, Lelouch's role as Zero, Nunnally and C.C., and the purpose of the new Zero Requiem. Nina was quite the whole walk and didn't say anything until Kallen had finished.

"Thank-you Kallen, for explaining, though I already knew quite a bit. You see, when Lelouch recruited me for the F.L.E.I.J.A. countermeasure, he explained everything to do with Princess Euphemia's death. I never truly forgave him for his role, but, knowing about Geass helps."

"You're just like Suzaku in that matter; he never forgave Lelouch for Euphemia's murder, even after he killed Lelouch himself. I guess he blames himself as well."

"I see. I also want to thank-you for bringing me into this. Maybe I can actually be friends with Suzaku now. Last time, I was too afraid because of my fear of Elevens, I mean Japanese. And then, I became the chief of Vogue and…the only time I got to really get to know Suzaku was during the Damocles War. Now, I actually have a chance, especially with him being Princess Euphemia's Knight. Oh, I can meet Euphemia herself again. Please, don't let her die this time, or Shirley."

"Don't worry Nina, I won't. That's actually part of the reason I used my Geass on you. Tell me, did Lelouch ever mention something called the Geass Order?"

"Maybe, I don't know. Why?"

"Because, it's mine, C.C.'s and Jeremiah's belief that V.V., the leader of the Order, caused Lelouch's Geass to go out of control and cause…. They're also responsible for Shirley as well. Anyway, we've been planning our strike on the Order before it gets there but we've run into a problem. We have a very limited amount of people able to attack them and the Order is quite big. We need a way to take them out in one strike and when I saw you working I thought of…"

"F.L.E.I.J.A. You want to use my work on F.L.E.I.J.A. to destroy the Order, don't you?"

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to use you like this; it's just…"

"No, it's O.K." Nina looked down and started wringing her hands. "All those deaths I caused, I never forgave myself for them, even after all the good work I did after the war. All the whispers and glares I received…. Using the F.L.E.I.J.A. here, to protect Princess Euphemia, and all the work I could do for you and the Black Knights; it won't make up for what I did but, it'll be a start."

"Nina, it will be more than a start. Here, now, no one knows what you did, what you created. All those lives lost can now be saved. Helping us, you can finally forgive yourself."

A few tears fell down Nina's face before the girl leaped at Kallen and engulfed her in a hug. "Thank-you Kallen, you're a true friend."

After letting go, Nina grabbed her laptop and began typing away at a furious speed. "Kallen, I need all the information you can get about the Order's base. If F.L.E.I.J.A. is to work, I need all the proper details."

"I don't know them myself as I've been to their headquarters, but I can get you in touch with Jeremiah. He knows all there is about the Order other than C.C. If there's anything you need, he'll have it."

A quick phone call later and a secret meeting between a pleased Jeremiah and Nina was set up. After reminding Nina that she wasn't supposed to do anything to change the timeline, Kallen left the girl to her work. C.C. was waiting for her in the hallway.

"You're extremely lucky, you know that. That's five people you've awakened now. If you're not careful, your power will get out of control."

"So you keep reminding me."

"I have to; you're not as strong as Lelouch."

"That's a joke, right?"

"Lelouch is easily capable of controlling his Geass; both his parents had their own powers and his intellectual mind gives him more control. But you; you let your emotions get the better of you most of the time and you think before acting. I have to remind you because one day, very soon, your power will get out of control. I don't know when that'll happen but at the rate you're going, it'll happen soon."

"Where's the mask?"

"I hid it in Lelouch's room again, but better. Now no stupid feline will make off with it."

A chime suddenly sounded from above and the school's PA system came on. "All students please report to the gymnasium for the live presentation of Third Prince Clovis's Funeral."

The two made their way towards the main building, joining up with the rest of the Student Council. Shirley, over her embarrassment and now changed out of her practice suit, gave Kallen her jacket back. With a soft smile, Kallen stood on Shirley's left while C.C. stood on her right.

The gym was packed with students. They lined up in rows facing the large screen that had been put in. Out of the corner of her eye, Kallen could see Suzaku and Lelouch standing next to each other in the row in front of her. Like last time, Kallen tuned out most of the funeral, quietly celebrating the death of Clovis. She only focused when the man she hated the most come on screen.

"And now, His Royal Majesty, the ninety-eighth Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire."

Charles zi Britannia confidently walked up to the podium and the camera immediately focused on him. Kallen's eyes narrowed. Here was the man who ordered the invasion of Japan, making it a colony, reducing her people to mere Numbers. The same man who exiled Lelouch and Nunnally for no reason other than the fact he had no use for them. The man that Lelouch despised more than any other.

"All men," the Emperor stated, "are not created equal! Some are born swifter of foot, others with greater beauty; some are born into poverty, and others born sick and feeble, both in birth and upbringing. In sheer scope of ability every human is inherently different.

"Yes, that is why people discriminate against one another, which is why there is struggle, competition, and the unfaltering march of progress. Inequality is not wrong, equality is! What of the E.U. which made equality a right? Rabble politics by a popularity contest. What of the Chinese Federation with its equal distribution of wealth? A nation of lazy dullards!

"But not our beloved Britannia, we fight, we compete, evolution is continuous. Britannia along moves forward, advancing steadily into the future. Even the death of my son, Clovis, demonstrates Britannia's unswerving commitment to progress. We will fight on, we shall struggle, compete, plunder, and dominate, and in the end, the future shall be ours! All hail Britannia!"

The chant of 'All hail Britannia' rang throughout the gym. Every person attending the funeral was shouting it. It made Kallen sick. She swore, the Emperor would pay for his crimes, even if she had to kill him herself. Another glance at Lelouch showed his determination as well. If looks could kill, the Black Rebellion would be over with now and then with the glare he was giving the screen.

* * *

The next day, Kallen walked into the Student Council room to find Shirley, Milly, and Nina arguing about naming Arthur. Shirley of course had no idea that Arthur was the cat's name but Milly wanted to try and rename him.

"Kallen, at last! Come on, we still have to find a name for our new cat. Shirley insists we call him Panda but I don't know."

"Oh come on Madam Prez, it's a cute name. Just look at the black spot around his eye, Panda's perfect."

"It'd be confusing" Lelouch stated as he also walked in. "I don't see why we're adopting him anyways. In case you're forgetting, this is my home too so I'll most likely be the one taking care of him."

"To bad Lelouch, it was majority rule."

"And by 'majority' you really mean you, don't you?"

"What can I say, I like cats! Especially this one."

"Probably hoping he'll steal something else from me" Lelouch muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing!"

Kallen smiled as she took a seat and observed the banter between Lelouch and Milly. Arthur jumped up into her lap and did the same. It certainly was entertaining, and it got Kallen thinking. With all the blonde's action towards Lelouch, was it possible that she too held some sort of more than sisterly feelings towards him. If so, Kallen wasn't looking forward to fighting her for Lelouch's affections.

"Isn't this nice Arthur?" Kallen whispered to the cat. "It's just like the good old days, before the Black Rebellion. You probably don't even know what I'm talking about though, do you?"

Arthur turned his head around and gave Kallen a look that seemed to say, at least to her, that he knew exactly what she was talking about. Was it possible? Arthur had stayed with the former Knight of Six after Lelouch's death so she hadn't seen the cat again. Did Geass work on animals or was her mind just playing a trick on her?

"Do you remember?" Kallen asked. Arthur just nudged her hand, asking for her to pet him. Obviously the cat wouldn't answer so Kallen complied with his wishes.

"He seems to like you Kallen."

Kallen looked up. Shirley was smiling down at her petting Arthur while Milly and Lelouch still argued.

"Guess I'm just a cat person" she said with a laugh. Suzaku laughed a little too and walked over. Kallen knew what was coming and didn't even try and stop him. Suzaku reached down to try and pet Arthur and was promptly bitten.

"OW!"

"I guess we can't say the same about you, huh Suzaku?" Kallen stated, leaning back into her chair regally. In the past she had privately enjoyed watching Suzaku getting bitten. Now, it was like a small victory to punish Suzaku for killing Lelouch.

"Don't worry Suzaku, I'll get the first aid kit" Shirley said as she scampered away.

Arthur's show of love brought Milly and Lelouch out of their argument. Lelouch helped his friend get free of the feline's strong teeth as Arthur was really stubborn. He just did not want to let go. If he did remember, maybe he was punishing Suzaku for leaving him after the Damocles War. Shirley arrived and started to wrap Suzaku's hand in a bandage.

"You seem familiar with this cat Suzaku" Milly said, going into gossip huntress mode, "Were you the one who bandaged his leg?"

"Uh, no actually, it was someone else who was with me."

"A _girl_ huh?"

"How did you know?"

The others recognized what Milly was doing and got excited.

"Here we go, our romance detective!"

"Careful Suzaku, her intuition on these things is on target and deadly."

"You have a girlfriend, don't you?" Milly already knew about his relationship between him and Princess Euphemia, but getting it out of him was half the fun. Besides, how was she to explain how she knew that information?

"You do?" Lelouch was shocked. Kallen thought he might be planning for Suzaku and Nunnally to get together. Strange, most older brothers would try and _stop_ their little sister and best friend from getting together. Lelouch was the only one she knew of who _encouraged_ it.

"No, you've got it all wrong" Suzaku tried to explain, unknowingly digging himself into a deeper hole.

"Oh, I see, the relationship hasn't gotten that far yet. Though, I'm sure you really want to."

Curse her Geass for bringing Milly into this, Kallen thought.

"What's she like, where'd you meet, is she a student, is she older, is she in the military?"

Shirley's questions were endless. Probably trying to get Milly to focus on Suzaku's love life and not hers.

"Shirley, don't bit his head off."

"By the way Suzaku, when you join our Council, you have to reveal one story about your love life, that's the rules."

"What?"

"Don't worry Suzaku, she's lying. Don't fall for it."

"No I'm not." That caught everyone's attention.

"What!"

"Since you're so certain I'm lying Lelouch, you can go first."

"I refuse."

"Too bad, now spill."

"No, you can't force me."

"Oh, do I have to get Nunnally in here to beg? You know you can't resist her."

That was low, even for Milly. Everyone knew that. It was no secret, especially to Milly and Kallen, that Lelouch would do anything for his little sister.

"No need," a voice said, "she's right here." Everyone turned around to see C.C. pushing Nunnally's wheelchair into the Council Room. Upon seeing her, Arthur jumped off Kallen's lap and ran towards Nunnally's.

"Arthur!" Nunnally exclaimed happily as the cat jumped up and started licking her hand.

"Arthur?"

Kallen looked a Suzaku. He had a strange expression on his face. Did Euphemia name the cat Arthur as well?

Milly groaned in defeat. "Darn, I was hoping to name him Lelouch II."

"Absolutely not!" Lelouch said in a stern voice. It was the same one he used as Zero, Kallen noted.

"What were guys talking about? I heard my name mentioned."

"We're trying to get Lelouch and Suzaku to talk about their loves lives, but they're being very stubborn."

"Ooo, big brother's love life? Tell me, who's the lucky girl?"

"No one, there isn't anyone. Now Milly, stop corrupting my sister."

"Oh, but Lelouch" C.C. said, "Would you really deny your sister this? Just look at her, how could you refuse such a beautiful face."

Nunnally complied, scrunching up her face, sticking out her lower lip, and making her eyes water a little. All in all, Kallen had to admit that it would be impossible for Lelouch to say no to Nunnally when she looked as sad as she did. 'Witch' was the thought going through both Kallen's and Lelouch's minds.

"Please Onii-sama"

"Fine, I'll share one thing." Everyone leaned in to hear Lelouch spill one of his secrets. "I admit, there was one girl I liked, though it was a few years ago. Katherine Simmons."

"I thought so" Milly said triumphantly.

"Who…?"

"Katherine Simmons was a student here back when we first started coming to Ashford. She was an older girl with long brown hair and sparkling blue eyes. I think most of the boys had a crush on her at one point or another. However, her father was in the military and was transferred halfway through our first year. I never saw her again."

Shirley's eyes were wet from hearing about her Lulu's first crush, as was Nunnally's. Milly was thinking deep thoughts when suddenly, she snapped back into reality.

"Hey, wait a minute, that wasn't a story!"

"Yes it was, I told you about my first crush outside my family and what happened. That's all you need to know."

"But, you didn't say how you meet her, what you did to get her attention or what happened after you found out you wouldn't see her again."

"Those are things you don't need to know."

"But…"

"It's O.K. Milly" Nunnally said, "I can live with that. Besides, Big Brother likes someone else now, don't you?"

"Wha…Nunnally?"

Nunnally and C.C. shared a look with quiet giggles. Watching them, Milly gave up and turned towards Suzaku.

"O.K. Suzaku, your turn. Tell us about this girl you met with Arthur."

Nervous, Suzaku hesitated before starting. "Well, her name's Euphy."

That caught Lelouch's attention. "Huh? Euphy? You sure?"

"Yeah, that's her name" Suzaku said, knowing that Lelouch and Nunnally would recognize it.

"Oh, Lelouch, remember Euphy?"

"Huh?" Shirley interrupted. "You two know this Euphy?"

"Yes, our families were friends before we came to Area Eleven. We haven't seen her since the Second Pacific War though."

"So, how did your date with this, Euphy, go" Milly asked mischievously.

"Uh, it wasn't a date, I swear!" he told Lelouch, afraid of what he would do.

"What did you do with Euphy?" Nunnally asked, genuinely curious about the first date between her sister Euphie and her Knight.

"Well, she asked me to show her around the Settlement a bit and, I just couldn't refuse her."

"Sounds like a date to me" Shirley said excitedly.

"Maybe you should try and bring her around sometime" Milly said with a tone like she wasn't taking no for an answer. Nina nodded in agreement.

"Ah," Suzaku looked at Lelouch and Nunnally. If he brought Euphy here, she would see them and that was exactly what Lelouch didn't want. "Well, you see, our meeting happened by accident and I don't know if I'll be able to bring her around."

"Darn it!" Milly stated. She knew that Suzaku couldn't and wouldn't bring Princess Euphemia to Ashford, but she could act like she was disappointed. It would be a lot better when he was made her Knight, she could really tease him then.

"How did you guys meet anyways?" Rivalz asked.

"Oh, well, she never really said what she was doing, but I think she wanted to get away from some of her duties and sightsee. She actually jumped out a window to do it and I caught her." He quickly realized he said too much when Nunnally let out a gasp. "She wasn't hurt or anything, I caught her before she hit the ground."

This was just too good for Milly. "Oh, a real Knight in shining armor are you? I bet she just _loved_ lying in her arms after she jumped, huh lover boy?"

Suzaku was unable to speak. He just stood there blushing, worry about just how much Lelouch could take hearing about how his best friend had a crush on his sister. Lelouch obviously had the same thought as he quickly walked over to Nunnally.

"That's enough Madam President, we still have class to get to. I suggest we get a move on before we're late. Come on Nunnally, I'll take you to Miss Sayoko. Coming Suzaku?"

"Right behind you Lelouch."

He followed brother and sister out the door along with Rivalz and Nina, leaving just Kallen, C.C., Milly, and Shirley behind.

"Consider yourself lucky Shirley, I was going to have you go next."

"Wha…what are you saying Madam President?"

"Oh Shirley, you're so clueless. Kallen tried to help you out yesterday but that failed. This was my attempt. Lelouch is never going to notice you if all you do is just watch him, you need to take action."

Shirley just blushed heavily, both because she was reminded of yesterday's Cat Hunt reward and the fact that she was once again teased about liking Lelouch.

"You need backbone Shirley, need incentive." The blonde was quiet, thinking again, so Kallen stood up and made for the door to go to class when Milly's shout caught her attention.

"That's it! You need incentive, motivation. And I have just the thing. Kallen, come back, we need you in on this."

Realizing that she couldn't escape whatever scheme Milly had come up with this time, Kallen walked back to the little group. Together, the four girls leaned in to hear the plan.

"Now, everyone here likes Lelouch, right?"

Shirley's face took on a mixture of embarrassment and horror while Kallen stared at Milly wide-eyed. C.C. just nodded.

"And I think we can all agree that Lelouch needs _someone_, a girl other than little Nunnally, in his life. Well, I propose a little competition. We each try and get Lelouch to go on a date with us. Winner is the first one who can provide proof that they actually went on a real date with him, and it has to be a real date, something that none of us would disagree with."

"What does the winner get?" C.C. asked.

"Hmm, that's a good question. What should the winner get?"

"I like pizza."

"We know you do C.C. In fact, if I offered you enough pizzas you'd probably drop out of the competition."

"Nuh uh, no dropping out and no cheating. That includes going to Nunnally for help. Each of us has to try her best. As for the prize, well, just come up with something you really want, other than Lelouch that is, that the three losers will provide it for you. Let the game begin girls."

"Right!"

On the other side of the campus, Lelouch let out a large sneeze.

"Hey, you feeling O.K. there buddy?"

"Yeah, but I got a strange feeling that my life is suddenly about to get really strange."

* * *

**Poor Lelouch, he has no idea.**


	11. Chapter 11

**At last, this chapter is finally finished. Sorry it took so long but things have been getting busy at school lately with finals approaching. This was also a very difficult chapter to write as I had to do it in three seperate bursts of inspiration and then I had to change quite a bit of it later as I didn't like those parts. The next chapter is already in the works so you hopefully don't have to wait around as long.**

* * *

"Sorry you have to sit here watching me do my homework."

It was a few days later and Suzaku was at the A.S.E.E.C base. As they were still analyzing the data collected from Shinjuku and the Orange Incident they only had him doing basic drills to collect more data to compare to what they already had.

Today was an off day and Suzaku was only around if they needed him. To pass the time he was catching up on all the school work he had with Cecile Croomy watching over him. Unlike most other Britannians he met, Miss Cecile didn't seem to dislike or hate him at all. In fact, she was quite kind and caring towards him.

Actually, now that Suzaku thought about it, nearly everyone in the A.S.E.E.C. was nice to him. It could be due to the fact that thanks to him they were able to get more work done now that they had a Devicer. Or, maybe it was because he was their Devicer that they were nice to him.

"Oh, don't worry about it" Cecile said, looking over at him from her own work. "You've never attended a regular school before so it can't be helped."

It was true. Before Japan's invasion, Suzaku had been taught by some of the best tutors his father could buy. After the invasion, education was pointless for an Eleven so he never went. This was the first time in seven years that he actually had a formal education and he had a lot of catching up to do.

"The guys on the Student Council are helping me the best they can, but it's still hard."

"I imagine, with what you told me is going on with the Council lately I'm not surprised. I'm guessing tutoring opportunities are a little rare right now?"

"Yeah…" Suzaku laughed, joined by Cecile. The best person to help him, his friend Lelouch, had been a little tied up the past couple of days thanks to Milly. It had started during the afternoon meeting of the Student Council the day Arthur was officially named….

Lelouch, Suzaku, Rivalz, Nina, and Nunnally were seated around the table, waiting for the girls to show up so they could start the meeting.

"What's taking them so long?" Lelouch asked. "Milly is never this late and neither is Shirley."

"Do you think something's happened to them?" Nunnally asked, a little worried.

Rivalz just leaned back in his chair, enjoying the leisure time. "My guess is Kallen got sick again and had to go home and now Madam President is dragging Shirley all over the campus trying to find her."

"And what about C.C.?"

"Getting pizza?" Rivalz supplied helpfully.

The door to the Council Room opened, but instead of the missing girls, Sayoko entered carrying a tray of orange slices.

"Thank-you Sayoko" Lelouch said as the maid placed the tray on the table.

"Of course Master Lelouch" the maid said happily. Something in the way she said it made Lelouch and Suzaku curious. She seemed way too happy about something and was giving Nunnally a strange look.

Before Lelouch could question Sayoko on her weird behavior, the door to the room opened again. This time, the missing girls entered. Immediately, Lelouch felt a chill go up his spine as he looked at the girls' faces. Milly and C.C. had predatory grins on, Kallen was smiling gleefully, and Shirley had a bright red face. Something was going on and Lelouch knew it spelled doom for him.

"Lelouch!" Milly practically shouted, slamming her hands on the table and making everyone jump. "The four of us are tired of you ignoring the fairer sex completely. We all agree that it is high time you got a girlfriend."

Lelouch was in shock. His mind was failing him, unable to do anything. Rivalz was laughing while Nunnally was bouncing excitedly.

"All four of us agree that it should be one of us. So, we're not going to stop until you agree to take one of us out on an actual date."

"Stop? Stop what?"

The gleam in Milly's eyes scared Lelouch. "Why, we're going to _persuade_ you to choose us in any way we can. It'll be like a competition between me, Shirley, Kallen, and C.C. The prize, you of course. I hope you're prepared Lelouch, because none of us are going to hold back.

"As for the rest of you" Milly said, turning towards the rest of the Council. "You are not to interfere in any way. Encouragement is welcome but you cannot help Lelouch, understand?"

After receiving five nods, Milly turned around and face the three other girls. "Come on ladies, let us get ready. And Lelouch, you'll be seeing your girlfriends sooner than you think." The four left, giggling heavily.

When the door closed, Lelouch just sat in his chair, frozen, before his head fell forward on the table.

"I'm dead, aren't' I?" he asked Suzaku.

"You're dead. I guess you better run now before they come back."

Lelouch didn't need telling twice, he shot out of his seat and raced from the room faster than Suzaku had ever seen him. The Honorary Britannian watched the place where his friend vanished for a few seconds before turning back to the remainder of the Student Council.

"So, how long do you think it'll be until they get him?"

"Brother's fairly stubborn, but seeing who he has after him, my guess is it'll be over in a week."

"Don't forget, this is Milly we're talking about. She'll pull out the big guns right away. I'll be surprised if this is still going on in two days."

"Lelouch has put up with Milly's antics for years. I'm sure he can hold off against her."

"Sure, by herself, but don't forget that Shirley's in this as well. And Kallen, she's probably just as smart as Lelouch and we don't know anything about C.C."

"Who you think is going to win?" Sayoko asked.

Nunnally answered right away. "I think Kallen will. I'm sure Brother's already interested in her and I like her."

"Yeah, but don't forget, this is Milly we're talking about" Nina supplied. "She can be very creative and persuasive if she wants to be."

Unable to accept that fact that his crush might actually date his best friend, Rivalz hastily added, "But Shirley's loved him since forever. Sure she may be unable to say it, but with this she'll actually confess. She's not about to lose him."

Suzaku just glanced at his new friends for a few seconds and sighed. "Well, since nobody else is going to vote for her, I guess I'll place my money on C.C."

Rivalz perked up at that. "So Suzaku, willing to bet on the outcome of this little competition?"

Suzaku just raised an eyebrow. "Don't you get enough money with your gambling trips with Lelouch? Oh well, might as well." Reaching into his wallet, Suzaku pulled out a few bills and placed them in the center of the table. "I'll wager C.C. wins in two weeks."

"Shirley, four days!"

"Come on guys, we really shouldn't"

"Aw, Nina, where's your sense of fun?"

Her answer shocked Suzaku and Rivalz.

"Milly, two days."

Suzaku blinked. Rivalz just stared with his mouth open. Nina blushed at her own boldness.

"What about you Miss Nunnally, are you going to bet as well?"

"Do you have any money for me Sayoko?" The maid just held up a small wad of bills. Nunnally nodded. "Kallen, a month."

"You sure Nunnally?"

She nodded again. "Trust me, I know Brother."

"So," Rivalz said, staring at the small pile of money on the table, "whose going to hold it until the end?"

"I take that" Sayoko said, scooping up the pile. "I know you can't be trusted Mr. Cardemonde. As the only neutral party in this, it should fall to me to watch the winnings."

"You're not going to bet Sayoko?"

"Oh no Mr. Kururugi, I could never bet against my master. But, if I did, I would have to agree with you. Miss C.C. does seem like a good choice."

After that, the Student Council meetings got a lot more interesting. While unable to use their clothing to persuade Lelouch, Milly and C.C. had been taking actions to show off their bodies, stretching for long periods of time, bending at the waist in front of Lelouch, things like that.

So far the only results were an uncomfortable Nina and Nunnally, a red Shirley and Lelouch, and a drooling Rivalz. After four days, Lelouch was still holding strong though Suzaku was starting to notice his resolve was weakening slightly. He didn't know how Lelouch was able to do it, had he been the target, it would've been over by the time school got out. Then again, Lelouch always was pretty stubborn.

Suzaku was drawn out of his thoughts be Lloyd's appearance. "All right everyone, pack it up, pack it up, we done today, don't do anymore! Hip, hip, hooray! That's all folks." He gave a depressed sigh and slouched forward in defeat.

Suzaku, still unused to his boss's unusual behavior, could only stare in confusion while around him the rest of the Camelot workers were starting to follow orders, more than used to Lloyd's eccentrics. Cecile just shook her head.

"Go back to school Suzaku. Classes may be over for today but it's important to have a social life as well. Not to mention, you might miss something interesting today."

"Right" Suzaku smirked. He knew Cecile was a little curious about how Lelouch was doing against the Council girls. Although she didn't know Lelouch's name for his protection, she knew enough about his friend. Suzaku had a feeling that she might be more interested in the competition than she was letting on.

It only took a few minutes to pack up his work and change into his school uniform. Soon, Suzaku was walking through the halls of Ashford Academy, wondering what crazy scheme Milly had come up with this time. Up ahead, he could see Lelouch sneaking around.

"Lelouch!"

Ahh!" The former prince jumped so high that he practically hit the ceiling. "Suzaku, don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry. So, who're you hiding from today?"

"C.C."

"Oh, so what'd she do this time?"

"You mean, what has she been doing to past couple of nights. You know how she's staying with me and Nunnally, right? Well, every night since this dammed competition started she's been sneaking into my bed and sleeping next to me naked."

"Wow, lucky guy."

"Shut it! I don't need your comments."

"Sorry, but it's true Lelouch. Most guys in this school would kill to have just _one_ of the girls from the Student Council after them, but you've got _four_."

"I don't need more girls chasing after me, almost half of them in this school already are. Heck, I don't even need one. I've got no time for dating. By the way, could you not mention this to Shirley; I don't need her freaking out over it. Oh, or Milly, I don't want to give her any ideas."

"Got it. Though, speaking of Shirley. You really care for her, don't you? After all, why have me not mention it if you didn't. Just ask her out already and this'll all be over."

"Oh? And what about the bet you and the rest of the Council made? Didn't think I'd hear about that, or how you've become the unofficial bookie for this whole competition?"

Suzaku just smiled nervously. It was true. It had only taken one day for news of the competition to spread throughout the whole school. Some of the girl's in Lelouch's fan club tried to get in on it but they were somehow stopped (much to Lelouch's relief). Of course, nearly everyone had an opinion on who should win and how long Lelouch would last.

As Rivalz couldn't be trusted with money and Nina was more interested in her research, it fell to Suzaku to record everyone's bet and hold the money. This had the added benefit of increasing Suzaku's popularity with the rest of the school.

"Oh relax Lelouch; everyone's just having a bit of fun. Well, everyone but you that is. Though, I'm serious. I'm not sure you can handle this competition, mentally or physically. You're just lucky that it's only been C.C. and Milly really working at this. Shirley's too nervous about it and Kallen's just planning and waiting. Once they both get involved you won't stand a chance. I think you should just pick a girl and date her, that'd get everyone else off your back.

"Of course Shirley's perfect for you. I know you're worried about Nunnally in all this but she loves Shirley and Shirley cares for Nunnally a great deal. Plus, you know she's got it bad for you and is probably one of the few girls that actually likes you for you. Just give her a chance."

"I can't do that Suzaku. The reasons are…personal. And I know how much she cares for me, I'm not blind. I just don't want to lead her on and have her get hurt. That girl's is just too stubborn."

"Like you?" Suzaku asked slyly.

"Exactl…very funny." Lelouch narrowed his eyes and glared at his friend. Suzaku only stared off into space innocently. Lelouch gave a sigh. "Look, I don't have time for this, I'll see you later O.K.?"

Suzaku just shook his head after his friend. Sometimes Lelouch was just too stubborn. Maybe he should suggest to Milly about locking one of the girls in a closet with Lelouch. Poor Shirley would freak about ten seconds in though Kallen was certainly interesting.

"Hey, Kururugi!" Suzaku turned to see Mark Davis, one of his classmates, running over to him. "Hey, the Student Council competition still going on?"

"Lelouch is just as stubborn as ever."

"Shirley make a move yet?"

"Not yet, though from the way things are looking she's got plenty of time."

"Right, then put me down for Shirley in twenty days. Here."

Suzaku took the money and wrote Mark's name in the booklet he'd taken to carrying around with him. This made two hundred and thirty-seven students plus six faculty members involved in the bet. Maybe that's why Lelouch was holding out like he was. Maybe he thought that if he held out long enough that he could collect all the money himself as no one won. It was worth a shot.

Meanwhile, in the Student Council Room, Shirley and Kallen were busy setting up Arthur's new house. Of course, the cat himself was too impatient to wait for his house. Four times already Kallen had to remove the feline from the box she was working with to get at the materials he was laying on.

Shirley was taking the pieces Kallen already had taken out and putting them together. As they were alone in the Council room, Shirley thought that now was the best time to get some answers to questions that were bothering her.

"Kallen, can I ask you something?"

"Huh?" Kallen looked up and Arthur took this opportunity to jump back in the box. Sighing, she reached in to grasp the cat. "Oh, sure."

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but, I'd really like some answers."

Kallen had been expecting this. Shirley was going to question her about her relationship with Lelouch because of a couple of incidents. Looking back on it, Kallen realized it was no wonder Shirley was confronting her. She and Lelouch just had the worst luck when they were alone.

"Go ahead and ask Shirley, I'll answer you honestly" Kallen responded while also scratching behind Arthur's ears to distract him.

Shirley was silent for a few seconds before she spoke again. "You like Lulu, right?"

"Um, of course." Kallen quietly, knowing how much the other girl loved Lelouch. Shirley was her friend after all and she didn't want her getting hurt.

"Then, why did you give up the kiss?" I mean, it was the perfect opportunity for you. Or, have you and Lelouch already…kissed? I happened to see you guys the other day…"

_When Milly decided to take that picture of us_. Shirley turned around to face her, so Kallen let Arthur go so she could stand up.

"That…that wasn't anything" she tried to defend, while the redness of her cheeks betrayed her.

"You mean, it wasn't anything special?"

Oh, Shirley and her overactive imagination. "No, no, we didn't kiss. It was just…" But what excuse could she come up with to explain why their faces were so close? Knowing that it wouldn't get her anywhere and that Shirley would just take anything she said out of context, Kallen tried to turn it all back towards the Cat Hunt.

"About the Cat Hunt, I did it for you."

That shocked Shirley out of any thought she had about their almost kiss. "Huh, what do you mean?"

There was a soft meow and Kallen looked down to see Arthur pawing at her leg. Picking him up again, she carefully thought about how to give her answer.

"You see, well, I heard about how much you liked Lelouch but that you were also too scared to tell him. I thought that, if I gave you the reward, you would finally get the courage to tell him."

"Exactly!"

The two girls turned to see Milly entering the room, her usual chipper self. "That's also the whole purpose of our competition Shirley. It's so you finally get the courage to tell Lelouch exactly how you feel about him. That, and to show you what'll happen if you don't hurry your butt. C.C. and I have been giving this our all and I know Kallen has some sort of elaborate plan in the works. If you don't get a move on, someone else will claim Lelouch before you."

"But," Shirley looked down, her cheeks a light red. "You and C.C. haven't been able to do anything."

"Maybe," Milly said as she wrapped an arm around Shirley's shoulders "that's because Lelouch is waiting for a certain person to tell them how they feel. A certain orange haired girl with a massive crush on him, whose friend with the little sister he adores, and has a sweet little nickname for him."

Shirley's blush deepened and Kallen, seeing no point in hanging around, decided to leave. Just in time too as she could hear Milly. "Come on Shirley, Lelouch is gone right now so let's give you a makeover that'll make his eye pop."

Just as she reached the door, it opened and Suzaku entered carrying a fuzzy cat teaser. When he saw him, Arthur immediately popped up in interest, though whether that was from the toy or the entrance of his favorite chewable Kallen didn't know.

"Here," she said, placing the cat in the boy's arms, "I've got to get going." Kallen smiled to herself as she walked away, listening. Sure enough, barely three steps later and she heard the sharp gasp coming from the Lancelot's pilot. It was almost enough to almost make her giggle. So she did.

That lasted only a few seconds as she then saw C.C. hurry by, carrying a large case.

"Where are you going?" Kallen asked suspiciously.

C.C. stopped and turned her way. "Have you been watching the news lately?" she asked in a serious tone.

"No, why?"

"Lelouch took the bait Cornelia put out and is now about to be caught. You know what that means."

She did. Kallen knew that the moment Cornelia saw Lelouch she would put it all together. Zero would be caught. Neither of them knew if being a prince would save him from the death penalty, but they weren't going to wait around and find out.

"What are still doing here then, get going!"

The witch didn't need telling twice; in seconds she was gone. Kallen watched her for a few seconds, sending a silent pray that Lelouch would be saved. She had worked too hard and lost so much for him to die again, so soon. Suddenly, Kallen's thought were interrupted by her phone going off.

"Hello?"

"Kallen, its Ohgi. Have you been watching the news?"

"You mean about how Cornelia's set up a trap for Zero?"

"Yeah, the entire Saitama Ghetto is surrounded, just like in Shinjuku."

"Do you think the Yamato Alliance will survive?"

"Without Zero there to lead them, I doubt it. Remember, Cornelia's leading the Britannian forces and she isn't called the Goddess of Victory for nothing. The Britannian news has been full of her campaign in the former Middle Eastern Federation. Rumor is she took on a whole fortress by herself."

Kallen was silent. Knowing Cornelia personally, she guessed that a good portion of what the news was saying was the truth.

"You hear from Zero lately?" she asked out of curiosity.

"No, not since I told him about the fall of the Blood of the Samurai. That's actually why I was calling; you were the first person he contacted out of all of us. First in Shinjuku, and then after when he arranged to meet us."

"No, I haven't heard from him either."

"All right. I'll call you if Zero contacts me, for now, stay in school."

The call ended with a soft click and Kallen smiled.

"Yeah, stay in school. I'd doubt you'd be telling me that if you knew what I was really up to Ohgi."


	12. Chapter 12

**So sorry about the long delay in getting this chapter out. I've been pretty busy lately with moving some of my family around so I couldn't do anything for a couple of weeks. To make it up to you, I'll have the next chapter ready by the end of the month. I've nearly finished it and want to review a couple of parts. For now, please enjoy Chapter Twelve.**

* * *

Life in the ghettos had grown worse for the Eleven populace after Viceroy Cornelia had taken over. Angered about the death of her brother Clovis as well as Zero's rebellion, all welfare that had previously gone to help those in the ghettos had been cut off. Now, the sick and hungry had doubled, nearly tripled, and things weren't going to get any better any time soon.

The former Japanese people had gotten used to such a life after seven years. As such, most didn't even pay the train passing over their heads any attention. It was merely one of a dozen that went by every day, nothing new. The same couldn't be said for some of the passengers in the train.

In one of the luxury cars, Shirley Fenette gazed out at the passing scenery. "I've never left the Tokyo Settlement before" she told her friends excitedly, "This is my first time."

"Wow," said C.C., who had joined them on this trip, "That's a shocker. You mean you've never seen any of Japan other than the city, after being her for almost seven years?"

"Well, no, not really. I saw some of Area Eleven from the plane when my family was flying in, but that's about it."

"Aw, that's too bad" Milly said. "Lelouch always talked about how beautiful this country looked years ago. He visited this land before it became part of the Empire, didn't you know. I'm sure he wouldn't mind telling you about it during your little chess lessons."

Shirley blushed a little. In order to help her admit her feelings for Lelouch, Milly had arranged some alone time between the two in the form of chess lessons. Milly had decided on chess as it would allow Shirley the opportunity to learn more about Lelouch as well as his favorite pass time.

"Speaking of Lelouch," Milly said with a predatory grin, "I'm sure you wish he was with us, don't you. Just think about it, the crystal clear waters of Lake Kawaguchi, the perfect place for you to model off your new bikini. And after a nice swim with Lelouch, he could rub suntan oil on your back."

With each word Shirley grew more and more red, though she was drooling a bit at the end. Milly just laughed at her friend's face.

"Oh, don't be so shy. Tonight me and C.C. are going to give you some more help. Honestly Shirley, with all the help we're giving you with Lelouch, you should have at least _something_ to show for it. I mean, come on, you can't even talk to him these days without turning into a blushing, mumbling mess."

The train went into a tunnel and the car suddenly went dark. The fourth member of the group, Nina, gasped in shock. Although she was braver than she was the last time they went to Lake Kawaguchi, the memory of what happened was still very frightening for her. Seeing her friend in fear, Milly stood up and comforted her.

"Nina," she whispered, "Don't be afraid. Remember, everything went O.K. last time. Lelouch won't let anything happen to us, I promise. We'll be with you the whole time. None of us will leave your side for a second. And don't forget, Princess Euphemia will be there."

Nina nodded and Milly sighed. Truthfully, she had seriously considered not going to Lake Kawaguchi this time because of the hostage crisis. Nina had been a wreck the whole time and a couple of days after. She didn't want to have it happen again.

Oddly, Nina said she wanted to go, even though she knew what would happen, how she would be taken by Eleven terrorists. The reason she was willing to go; Princess Euphemia. C.C. had sealed the deal with her statement that their kidnapping had helped inspire Lelouch and his knights for justice.

That and she was a hopeless romantic. Playing the damsel in distress, waiting for the masked knight to come and rescue her was just too good an opportunity to pass up. Shirley would absolutely freak if she ever learned that Lelouch had rescued her from terrorists. That is, if her father survived Narita this time.

Back in the Tokyo Settlement, Kallen's resistance group entered their mobile command center for the first time. '_I wonder whatever happened to this thing after the Black Rebellion_' Kallen thought as she followed Ohgi in. Zero was already waiting for them.

"As of now, this place will be our hideout."

"So, you really think joining up with us is a good idea?" Ohgi asked.

"Of course, we're comrades after all."

The rest of her group was just as shocked as Ohgi was at the place.

"Whoa!"

"Check it out!"

"Do you mind if I ask how you came by this?"

"I borrowed it from a rather libertine nobleman who indulges my requests." Kallen got it. He used his Geass.

"You _asked_ for it? Just like that?"

"Don't worry, no strings attached."

"You have to admit," Kallen said, "No one would _ever_ expect us in something like this."

The others nodded at her statement.

"Hey, look," Yoshitaka Minami said," It's even got a T.V." He sat down and turned it on. Immediately, a special report came on.

"How are things looking at the scene?"

"I'm standing here in front of the Lake Kawaguchi Convention Center Hotel. The hotel-jackers have identified themselves as the Japan Liberation Front. Members of the Sakuradite Allocation Meeting, most notably Chairman James, were taken hostage as well as several tourists and hotel employees."

The screen changed from the reporter to a video of the hostages inside the hotel. Kallen scowled when she saw her friends from the Student Council. Milly had informed her that they would be going, even with the threat from the JLF.

"This footage was taken by the perpetrators. In it, you can clearly see Chairman James including some students. The leader of the group claims to be Lieutenant Colonel Kusakabe of the Japan Liberation Front."

Kallen tuned out the rest of the report's word, already knowing all about Sakuradite and its place in the world. She turned to look at the rest of her group. They all were distressed by the news of the hotel takeover but she knew it was because of the fate of the JLF members. Not one of them cared about her friends.

"So, they finally made their move. I've been hearing rumors about the JLF preparing for something big."

"They're easily the biggest anti-Britannian force in Japan, and now their pride's hurt."

"Because of us?"

"Maybe…"

"I don't know whether to be happy or sad about that, because they're all going to end up dead."

"That witch…"

Kallen turned to look at Zero. Although she couldn't see his face, she knew that Lelouch was angry about something. Turning back to the T.V. she saw C.C. with the rest of the Council, her green hair making her stick out like a sore thumb. Apparently she hadn't told Lelouch she was going to Lake Kawaguchi.

Minami turned the T.V. off. "There's no point in watching any further, we all know how it's going to end."

'_I wouldn't be so sure about that, Minami. I think only _I _know how it's going to end_.'

"Come on, we'd better get everything unpacked" Ohgi said. They had brought a few things with them from their old base. If this place was going to be their headquarters, they might as well make it feel more like it.

"I'll leave it to you," Zero said, "I've got a few things to check out." He then went up the stairs. Kallen knew he was going to monitor the hotel-jacking. He wanted to know about the fate of his friends.

For the next several minutes, Kallen helped her group unpack the many boxes they had, as well as a few Zero had supplied for them, trying to ignore the sound coming from Zero's room. He was using his laptop to watch the news live. Although she knew how the whole thing would end, Kallen was still worried. Jeremiah had said that the smallest difference could change the whole future dramatically.

"She was only sight-seeing!" A man's voice, a familiar one at that, came from Zero's room. Looking in, Kallen saw the familiar face of Shirley's father, Joseph Fenette. He was pleading for the life of his daughter, for her and her friends to be released unharmed. Kallen looked down in sadness. That man would die in a few weeks when the Black Knights attacked Cornelia at Narita.

Lelouch scowled as he watched the news footage. The pleas of Shirley's father were getting to him. As annoying as the girl could be sometimes, he did care for her. Nunnally loved her like another sister and would be absolutely devastated should anything happen to her. For the sake of Nunnally's happiness, he had to rescue Shirley and the others. Of course, Shirley had been growing on him a bit more since the whole competition started, not that he would ever admit it out loud.

'_We need to organize before we fight them again_' Lelouch thought, remembering the battle in the Saitama Ghetto. Cornelia had handed him a defeat that Lelouch would not forget anytime soon, one that he was anxious to pay her back for. '_It's too soon though, we're not ready. But we can't just sit here and do nothing though; knowing Cornelia she'll just sacrifice the hostages._'

Every memory of his sister, as well as information he gathered since Cornelia took over as Viceroy came to him. She should've made a move by now; the whole hotel should've been leveled. Why hasn't it happened yet? Then, another memory came to him, a memory that may have provided an answer. '_Is it possible?_'

Lelouch cut the news feed and went cycling back through the earlier reports. When he reached the footage the JLF provided of the hostages, Lelouch slowed it down and looked hard. There, just barely visible, was a hint of pink.

"Zero?" It was Kallen, and she sounded worried. "What will happen to the hostages?"

Lelouch turned off his computer. "Eventually, there will be no reason to keep those Britannians alive." It was a simple statement, one to show her that there was a difference between terrorists and a resistance group. Ohgi then walked in.

"Hey, Zero, I found these. Should I hand them out to everyone? I mean, as far as gear goes it's pretty hip, but we're just a resistance group…"

"Wrong!" Lelouch interrupted. "We're not a resistance group. What we are, what we're trying to be, are knights for justice!"

A while later, the whole group plus some equipment, were riding in a stolen news van. Ohgi was driving with Kallen in the seat beside him. The rest of the future Black Knights were in the back. Zero was standing on the top, fully exposed, so that Cornelia could see him.

Just before they reached the bridge leading to the Lake Kawaguchi Hotel, three Gloucesters blocked their path. The middle one was piloted by Cornelia li Britannia herself.

"Well, well, we meet again Zero" Cornelia said as soon as she climbed out of her Gloucester's cockpit. "Are you a member of the Japan Liberation Front, or perhaps you intend to help us? Either way, our concerns take priority over yours at the moment. And so, for the death of my half-brother Clovis, I'll take my revenge right here."

She drew her gun and pointed it right a Zero. But, before she could fire, Zero spoke.

"Cornelia, which would you choose; Clovis, who is dead, or Euphemia, who is alive?" That stopped her right in her tracks.

'_My suspicious confirmed, the first task at hand has been completed. You haven't changed Cornelia. You've always dotted on sweet little Euphemia, that's why you won't take aggressive action. Your emotions are getting in the way_'.

Of course, Lelouch ignored the hypocrisy in his own thoughts. In as much as Cornelia dotted on Euphie, he dotted on Nunnally just as much, if not more. Though, if he were to be honest with himself, he dotted on Euphemia too. It was one more reason to save the hostages and punish the JLF.

"It's within my power to save Euphemia for you!" Zero continued.

"What do you mean?" Cornelia shouted back, trying to hide the fact that Zero guessed correctly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I said that I'm able to rescue her. Let me pass and I'll return her to you unharmed."

There was a tense standoff for a few seconds before Cornelia let them pass, just as Lelouch and Kallen knew they would.

'_Either the Japan Liberation Front will accept me as they're ally, or they'll treat me as nothing more than a nuisance. In any event, I highly doubt they can resist the temptation of meeting the infamous 'Zero'. And once they do, one more terrorist group will fall, and hopefully I'll gain some more followers. We shall see._'

Once the van reached the entrance to the hotel, Zero jumped off the roof. His companions exited the vehicle and stood around their leader. A few feet away, JLF soldiers waited.

"Zero, what do we do?" Ohgi asked. "You said that we'd be knights for justice. What does that mean?"

"We are going to rescue the hostages." Everyone but Kallen gasped. "The Japan Liberation Front are cowards and fools. The liberation of Japan will not happen this way. Instead, the whole world will be against them for this violent take over."

"How exactly do you plan on rescuing everyone?" Kallen asked. Zero just chuckled.

"Simple, while I distract Kusakabe, you will rescue the hostages."

Zero then explained exactly what his group was to do while they walked towards the entrance.

"I am Zero" he said to the guards. "I wish to speak to Kusakabe, take me to him at once. My companions will take care of your hostages for now."

"Of course, Zero," one of the guards said. Kallen noticed the red rings around their eyes. "Please, follow me."

On the other side of the bridge, Zero wasn't the only one was planning the end of the hostage crisis.

"Wonderful!" Lloyd Asplund said. "I want to thank you for that lovely order." He then turned towards the rest of his team. "They said you've got the green light Lancelot. You've got orders to charge right into that linear cannon in the tunnel."

"Wait a minute, you mean they're using him as a decoy to make an opening for them?" Cecile was not happy about sacrificing the young pilot under their command.

"Yep, seems like they'll use the confusion to send in the Royal Guard."

"SEEMS LIKE?"

"Miss Cecile. I'm ready, please let me do it. If Lancelot and I are needed, and we're able to give the hostages an opportunity to be saved, then I'll do it. Even if it means being a decoy." Suzaku was determined. If risking his life meant the rescue of his friends, then he'd gladly do it. Nobody he cared about would die again if he could stop it.

With the pilot's admission of readiness, the Lancelot crew got busy. Within minutes, the advanced Knightmare Frame was being lowered into the utility tunnel.

"Warrant Officer Kururugi, here is a guideline for your mission. According to Prime Search, the hostages are located on the hotel's middle floor and are believed to be locked inside a food storage room. Advanced Prototype Weapon Z-01 Lancelot will use the utilities tunnel to move under the hotel.

"Once on site, your will destroy the foundation block and submerge the building. The area with the hostages should hold out for eight minutes. Hostage rescue and mop-up of the terrorists will be handled by other units. You will be using the VARIS to destroy the foundation, set impact rail to anti-material level three."

"The only variable in this is that pesky linear cannon waiting for you in the tunnel" Lloyd explained. "Space is tight in there; Lancelot will only have a 47.8% evasion rate. Make sure you both pull out of there before it's too late; Lancelot might be wrecked, that'll be unacceptable."

"Understood, sir" Suzaku said as he and the Lancelot were lowered. As he was, Suzaku thought about his friends inside the hotel. Milly, Shirley, Nina, and C.C. Milly and Shirley had welcomed him without question when he first joined the Student Council. C.C. had made the meetings fun by embarrassing Lelouch and making Shirley blush. So had Milly. While he didn't know Nina that well he wasn't about to let her die. He consider all four girls his friends.

'_I will save you_' he thought, '_I promise_'.

"Twelve minutes until operation start, begin countdown."

While all this was going on, the hostages in the Lake Kawaguchi Hotel huddled together, frightened. None of them knew if they were going to get out of this alive. The hotel security had been killed almost immediately when the terrorists showed and one man had been taken from them. He hadn't come back yet. However, out of the couple dozen hostages, only one didn't seem to be at all concerned with what was going on around her.

C.C. still had the same bored look on her face that she always did. It didn't matter to her what the outcome of all this was. Whether Lelouch succeed or failed to rescue the hostage, she would still be alive. '_Of course, if the Japan Liberation Front does kill the hostages before Lelouch arrives, I won't be able to go back to Ashford. Oh well, it doesn't matter to me, though Lelouch might be happy_'.

Her companions were worried however. Milly knew how this was going to end, but knowing the ending didn't mean she wasn't scarred. Right now, she was more concerned with soothing Nina. Shirley was the only Ashford girl who didn't know the ending and was just as scarred as her fellow hostages. Her thoughts were filled with her Lulu and if she'd ever see him again. Nina though, was different.

Nina huddled close to Milly. She thought that she could handle the hostage crisis again, but she was wrong. Her xenophobia hadn't disappeared after the Damocles War, though it did lessen. Right now, the only 'Elevens' she wasn't afraid of were Suzaku and, to an extent, Kallen. All of the Eleven soldiers frightened her completely.

There were footsteps in front of her. Looking up, Nina saw one of the soldiers, his face hard and his weapon ready. Nina was frightened, but just barely managed to avoid saying 'Eleven' in front of him. She remembered how the man reacted last time and didn't want to repeat the experience. However, something in the way she acted must've drawn his attention.

"Scared girl?" the man asked with a nasty grin on his face. "Now you know how we Japanese feel with you Brits looking down on and abusing us. Now, for the first time in your life, _we're_ the ones in power while you cower beneath our boots. How does it feel, Brit?"

Nina didn't answer, she was too afraid. '_Don't look_' she told herself, '_don't look and ignore him and maybe he'll go away_'. No such luck.

"What's the matter Brit, too scared to answer?" He reached down, grabbed her arm and pulled her up. "Maybe I'll just have to force some answers out of you."

Nina struggled to release herself but the soldier was too strong, no matter what she did. Another one of the soldiers suddenly spoke up, though Nina couldn't understand a word he was saying as it was in their native tongue. From the sound of his tone however, he wasn't too happy with his fellow soldier. The argument seemed to drag on for several minutes until a third voice rang out, this one in Britannian.

"Stop it, leave her alone!"

The soldier holding Nina threw her to the ground and pointed his weapon at the source of the voice. "Who the hell are you?"

"Take me to your leader at once. You are addressing Euphemia li Britannia, Third Princess of the Britannian Empire."

Nina looked up. There she was, her personal goddess. When the terrorists had first gathered the hostages together, Nina had tried to find Princess Euphemia but couldn't. Now, just like before, she stood before several armed soldiers, sacrificing herself for plain old Nina. The sight brought tears to her eyes as Nina gazed upon Princess Euphemia, living once again.


	13. Chapter 13

"M.E. boost!"

"Lancelot now launching!"

The Lancelot's landspinners screeched as the Knightmare shot forward. In seconds, the JLF forces manning the Raikō noticed it.

"Reaction confirmed, one enemy Knightmare!"

"It moves twice as fast as the others!"

"So what!" the Raikō commander shouted, "It'll end up like the rest. Super Electric Magnetic Shrapnel Cannon fire!"

The large liner cannon fired off a shell that quick released two dozen steel ball bearings. The number of ball bearings and the speed at which they were traveling would've destroyed a single squad of regular Knightmares, much less one. The Lancelot however, wasn't a regular Knightmare.

Moving at unbelievable speeds and using its arm shields, Suzaku and the Lancelot managed to avoid or deflect the entire salvo and continue on. All that was left of the shot was the energy from the explosion. When it left the opening of the tunnel it was a deafening sound and rocked the Lancelot's crew.

"I warned you about this Lloyd!" Cecile shouted towards her boss, who was hiding behind her. Lloyd didn't seem too concerned. In fact, he seemed quite pleased.

"He doesn't want to play decoy, he's going for the gold! He must really want to rescue Princess Euphemia! Ha ha!"

Inside the hotel, Princess Euphemia was lead along the halls to where she believed Lt. Colonel Kusakabe was. Her escorts were the Japan Liberation Front soldiers who were guarding the hostages. Just before they'd left the room where the hostages were, a new group of people appeared. They were dressed in black coats and caps with reflective glass visors covering half their face. They didn't appear to be JLF soldiers but they were allowed to watch over the hostages without questions.

'_Just who were they?_' Euphemia wondered as she was led through the hotel.

Soon, they reached one of the suites, guarded by two more JLF soldiers. One of Euphie's escorts stepped forward.

"I've brought the hostage I radioed about earlier for the Lt. Colonel to see. She claims she's Princess Euphemia."

One of Kusakabe's guards pulled out a second radio. "Princess Euphemia is here" he said in Britannian. Euphie got the meaning, if she was lying, she and the rest of the hostages were dead.

There were voiced from behind the door. A man gave a loud shout, then gunshots rang out. All four guards drew their weapons and charged into the suite.

"Colonel…" the first man in shouted but was cut off by a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

"Calm yourselves," Zero said, his own gun drawn. He was the only man in the room alive, the other four were dead. Euphie could see Kusakabe himself with a sword in his stomach. "The Colonel and the other committed suicide when they realized how meaningless this operation was. Euphemia," the masked terrorist said, now turning towards the princess, "You were willing to sacrifice yourself for the commoners. You haven't changed."

Euphie gasped. How did Zero know how much she cared about everyone? Did he know her personally?

"Leave us," Zero told the JLF soldiers, "I wish to speak with the princess alone."

Under the hotel, the Lancelot was making unbelievable progress. It had already traveled farther than the other Knightmares and survived four salvos. The Raikō fired another. It didn't work.

"That thing broke through salvo number five, I don't believe it!" one of the pilots shouted in fear.

"Don't panic!" the Raikō commander shouted, close to panic himself. "Deploy the quad-link free-fire arm guns. Batteries too! We'll shield this final defense with our lives!"

In the Lancelot, Suzaku noticed the cannon's new guns activating. He was out of time.

"Miss Cecile, it's time for me to use the VARIS!"

"No, you could get killed!"

"There's no room for me to evade! I'll risk getting blasted to take the first shot!"

Dropping his arm shields, Suzaku readied to fire the Variable Ammunition Repulsion Impact Spitfire. It was a time game now. With him so close to the liner cannon, Suzaku didn't have enough room to avoid it's next shot and with the VARIS ready, he could block the shots either. He had only one shot and a limited amount of time to take it.

Back inside the hotel, Euphemia was even more scared with Zero then she had been with the Japan Liberation Force. Zero had freely admitted in front of a live T.V. audience that he had killed her brother Clovis la Britannia. From the reports she read, he was also a very capable strategist, just as good as her older sister. In short, she would be lucky to get out of this alive.

"I heard you are the Sub-Viceroy now your highness, Princess Euphemia li Britannia."

"It's not an appointment I'm happy with" Euphie said. She didn't hide her disgust from Zero, what was the point? She was going to let him know exactly what she thought of him. Before she died, she was going to give him a piece of her mind about Clovis.

"No, that's because Clovis was murdered. That was _my_ handiwork. He begged pathetically for his life until the very end. He plead with the very tongue that ordered the _deaths_ of Elevens."

As he spoke, Lelouch saw his sister grow more and more angry. She was sixteen now, it was time she knew how the world worked, and how cruel it was. It was time she learned just how evil the Holy Britannian Empire really was.

For too long had Cornelia kept her ignorant about the true. She had kept their sister innocent and pure for as long as possible. Nunnally had lost her innocence the night their mother was murdered, eight years ago. She was only six years old, seven when Britannia invaded Japan.

"So, is that the reason you killed my brother?" Euphie asked. She had to know the reason another one of her beloved siblings died in this country.

"No."

"Then why?"

Zero didn't answer for a second. Euphie was afraid that he wouldn't respond. Then, "Because Clovis was an offspring of the Britannian Emperor."

'_Because, he was Father's son?_'

"Which reminds me." Zero removed his arms from the cape he wore, revealing a pistol. It was pointed directly at her heart. "You're one of his children too, aren't you? But, I suppose for now…" Surprisingly, Zero lowered his weapon.

"Use maximum output! I don't give a damn if it destroys the guns! Be prepared to die defending this spot!"

The Raikō crew was ready to fire what was sure to be their final salvo. Either they hit the white Knightmare and finally destroyed it, or it would fire at them and they would be destroyed. These were the final seconds of the battle and the outcome here would determine the victor.

"Charged, and ready!"

"Smash them! Super Electro Magnetic Shrapnel Cannon fire!"

At the last possible second, the Raikō crew fired. It was a second too late. The Lancelot fired the VARIS and the energy shot vaporized the shell a second after it left the Raikō. The bolt continued on, straight into the Raikō's barrel. The cannon exploded, leaving a hole in the ceiling just large enough for the Lancelot to jump through.

With the Britannian military, every officer and soldier could only stare in shock as the Lancelot appeared. They had all heard the rumors but none of them had actually seen it action. It was amazing. Lloyd just grinned at the performance his baby was putting on and at the data he was collecting. Kururugi was simply something else.

"It's him," Cornelia whispered in shock. "It's the Eleven." The Honorary Britannian was performing beyond expectations. He was performing beyond the ability of even some of her best pilots. Was it the machine doing this, or was it Kururugi's own skill?

Suzaku didn't allow himself a moment of rest. The second he was out of the utilities tunnel, he locked onto the foundation block like he was supposed to. It only took two seconds and five shots for the block to be destroyed. Lake Kawaguchi Convention Center Hotel began to sink.

As he fell, Suzaku felt a bit of pride at assisting the Britannian military. The Royal Guard were already moving to storm the hotel. Soon, the hostages would be rescued and the crisis would be over.

A beeping sound alerted him to something his factsphere sensor found. Zooming in, Suzaku saw a familiar mask standing proudly in one of the rooms, looking out the window. Zero was there!

Throwing away all logical thinking, Suzaku began to force the Lancelot towards the hotel. Zero had already shown that he didn't care for innocent lives and that he was willing to kill Britannian royals. Euphie was still in there, he had to save her.

In the hotel, Lelouch could gaze in shock at the mysterious white monster that ruined in plans in Shinjuku. It wouldn't ruin his plans this time, he was ready. Taking the detonator from his pocket, Zero pressed the button, causing the explosives the Black Knights had placed throughout the hotel.

To everyone's shock and horror, Lake Kawaguchi Hotel exploded with such force, several soldiers were knocked off their feet.

"EUPHIE!"

"MY FRIENDS!"

"Warrant Officer Kururugi, don't!"

It was too late. The Lancelot was already moving towards the falling remains of the hotel. The smoke and dust from the rubble quickly covered the Knightmare. Everyone was blinded and had to cover their eyes.

A few seconds later and the dusk cleared. Near where the former hotel stood, Lloyd and Cecile could see the white Knightmare standing, without a scratch on it.

"He's alright!" Cecile exclaimed, pleased that Suzaku wasn't hurt. Lloyd sighed in relief as well, though in the knowledge that his precious Lancelot wasn't damaged. Of course, Suzaku wasn't alright, at least not mentally.

"I couldn't rescue them." Tears formed in his eyes at the loss of his friends. "They're dead; I couldn't save them. Not again!" he shouted, slamming his fist on the control panel. Unfortunately, through his tears, Suzaku didn't notice the dust clearing across the lake, and the yacht that was coming into view.

Unlike Suzaku, the rest of the Britannian military noticed the yacht, and the man standing on the bow. Unknown to them, they weren't the only ones seeing this. All across the Empire, on the very channels that had been covering the hostage crisis, Zero's face appeared.

On the Ashford campus, in the Student Council Clubhouse, Nunnally and Sayoko watched Zero's live broadcast. Last time they had listened on the radio. Now that she had her eyesight back, Nunnally was able to watch her brother's speech. She was also able to view it and be just as amazed as everyone else.

"Big brother…" Nunnally whispered. This was it, the very first appearance of the famous Black Knights.

"My dear Britannians, have no fear, all the hostages from the hotel are safe and sound. I, Zero, return them to you unharmed."

Nunnally smiled as the cameras her brother 'borrowed' showed each and everyone one of the hostages' faces. The most prominent was a familiar head of pink hair.

"Sister Euphie!"

In a nearby raft was C.C., her green hair sticking out as much as Euphie's. Seated next to her was Shirley with Milly cradling Nina behind them. Everyone was safe.

The footage of the former hostages shifted to that of Zero himself. Lights came up and seven more people were revealed to be standing behind him. Nunnally could see Kallen's red hair in the back. A good thing too as red hair wasn't too common among the Japanese. If someone looked closely, they would figure out that Kallen wasn't fully Japanese. It would put her at great risk, something Nunnally didn't want. Kallen was to be her new older sister after all.

"People! Fear us, or rally behind us as you see fit! We are the Black Knights!"

Behind his mask, Lelouch smirked at the name for his resistance group. It was a little clever, having a former terrorists group becoming knights. Even more so when their enemy was an army filled with so call 'knights'. The truly amazing thing was, Lelouch didn't come up with the name on his own.

The name 'Black Knight' actually came to him during one of his chess lessons with Shirley. It had gone as well as the other; namely, horrible…

"No Shirley, the Rook moves straight ahead, not the Knight."

Lelouch fixed the orange-haired girl's mistake with a sigh. That was the fifth time today, and she had made the same one during their last lessons. The girl just didn't get chess at all.

"Sorry, Lulu. I guess I'm not very good at this, huh?"

"Don't worry Shirley, you're getting the hang of it. At least you know how the pawns work, right?"

"I guess" she said, fingering her Queen. "Hey, Lulu, remind me again, the Queen moves only one space, right?"

"No, that's the King. The Queen can move in any direction any number of squares. As such, she's the most powerful piece."

"But, I thought the King…with your whole 'if the king doesn't lead…"

"How can he expected his subordinates to follow" Lelouch finished. "The King is the most important piece, but the Queen is the most powerful. It's a piece you want to protect greatly."

"Like in real life, right?" Lelouch gave her a confused look. Shirley then realized she said that out loud and quickly tried to cover herself, "Well, the queen is the power behind the king right? He wouldn't do anything to displease her?"

"I…guess" Lelouch said, missing Shirley's blush as she thought about her being Lelouch's queen. That made her think….

"Hey, Lulu. If you could be any chess piece, what piece would you be?"

"Where did that come from?"

"Just, wondering…"

"Well, I wouldn't choose a piece. I see myself as more of a player than a piece. But, I guess I would go with the king. At times, it does direct the other pieces and they have to move according to it."

Lelouch didn't even mention his thoughts about being a former Britannian prince.

"Oh, well, I thought you'd be more of this piece" Shirley said, picking up one of Lelouch's Knights.

"The Knight?"

Shirley shook her head. "A _black_ Knight. Like in chess, you always wait for someone else to make the first move, like how white moves first. And in real life, you protect the rest of us from Milly's shenanigans, mostly, like a real knight. And, well, a lot of your actions are from the shadows. I just thought it'd suit you better."

'_A Knight?_' he thought, '_a black Knight?_' A real knight, rising from the shadows to protect others. Then it came to him.

"Thank-you Shirley, you really helped me see something just know. Sorry, but we're going to have to cut this lesson short today, I've got something I need to take care of. Thanks again Shirley, you're the best."

And he left a blushing, and confused, girl behind.

"We of the Black Knights stand with all those who have no weapons to wield…regardless of whether they be Elevens or Britannians! The Japan Liberation Front cowardly took innocent Britannian civilians hostage, and then mercilessly executed them! It was a wanton and meaningless act; therefore, they have been punished, just as former Viceroy Clovis was punished for ordering the slaughter of countless unarmed Elevens.

"We cannot stand by and allow such cruelty to be carried out; and so we made him pay for his actions. I will not repudiate battle on a fair and level field, but neither will I tolerate a one-sided massacre of the weak by the strong!"

Nunnally winced, the memory of the first Specially Administrative Zone of Japan coming to the forefront of her mind. At Lake Kawaguchi, Kallen felt the same thing.

'_Not this time_' they both thought.

"The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed!"

Suzaku and Cornelia both frowned at that statement. They both believed it to be true but hated the fact that Zero was using it.

"Wherever oppressors abuse their power by attacking those who are powerless, we shall appear again, no matter how mighty or formidable our foe may be! Those of you with power, fear us! Those of you without it, rally behind us! We, the Black Knights, shall be the ones who stand in judgment of this world!"

Nunnally wasn't the only Britannian Royal to watch Zero's speech live. In the Imperial Capital of Pendragon, three more members of the Royal Family were watching. Technically, only one of them was an official member of the Britannian Royal Family. The only female was actually a Knight of the Round but was currently being controlled by a former Imperial Consort. There was no record of the youngest of the group existing.

From a private room, the 98th Emperor, Charles zi Britannian, smiled at his son's work. "So Lelouch, you've revealed your intentions at last."

"Yes, it is clear" V.V. said, "He intends to lead these Black Knights in a rebellion against you Charles. He believes you responsible for that night eight years ago. I warned you against leaving your children in Japan."

"It was necessary Big Brother. If Lelouch hadn't remained in Japan we never would've found C.C."

"C.C. showed an interest in Lelouch from almost the moment he was born," Anya Alstreim said. From within, Marianne vi Britannia spoke. "We both believed that she would seek him out. It's nice to see our guess was correct."

All three gazed at the image of the green-hair immortal sitting relaxed on a raft.

"So, what do we do now? We know where C.C. is, do we send the O.S.I. or members of the Geass Order after her? And what about Lelouch, he's raised the banner of rebellion against you Charles. Letting him live would be a big mistake."

"No, there's no need to do anything just yet. We know where C.C. is and that she's given Lelouch a Geass power. No, she'll stay close to him until he fulfills his contract, there's no need to rush into things."

"And we still need time to finish the Ragnarok Connection. We just need to connect a few more Thought Elevators."

"Marianne is right Big Brother, we can wait. Besides, I want to see where Lelouch will take this 'Zero' character. He's already proven that he's willing to kill his other siblings to complete his goals, maybe he'd make a better ruler after the Ragnarok Connection."

"And his 'knights for justice' speech is so entertaining Charles, it goes against your believes of the Empire. It has to be for dear, sweet little Nunnally. If C.C. informs him of the Ragnarok Connection, he may even be willing to join us. I mean, it'll make a world where Nunnally can be herself."

"Hmm, that's very possible Marianne. See if you can try and talk to C.C. again. She may have avoided talking to you ever since she gave our son his Geass power but she can't avoid you forever."

"If you two are content to watch your son, then may I make a suggestion? Why don't we send a member of the Order to spy on Lelouch? That way, if he gets out of line or rejects the Ragnarok Connection, we can still get C.C."

"Very well, send one of your spies. But remember, he is only to observe, not kill. Now, Marianne, V.V., let us watch how Lelouch vi Britannia challenges the world as Zero."

* * *

**There you go, like promised, I have delivered the next chapter of _Red Recurrence_ by the end of the month. This last part with the Emperor was something I added as a filler. When I finished the chapter, it just seemed too short for me, then I thought I could ad the Emperor's thoughts here and show how things changed just a bit from the original timeline. It also provides a few hints as to what is coming next.**


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